Lady Molly Married
by slytherinsal
Summary: Sequel to Baroness Orczy's 'Lady Molly of Scotland Yard' taking the same braided novel approach of the original. Lady Molly has left Scotland Yard; she might expect a quiet married life, but her skills are too well known. I own nothing but effrontery
1. Chapter 1

_Thanks to Clio1792 for her encouragement to embark on this series of stories and for an idea that I was able to incorporate_

**Chapter 1**

It should not be supposed that my lovely lady gave up solving mysteries to help those in distress just because she was now able to live with her husband, her heart's desire, and had severed all official connections with Scotland Yard.

No indeed! Not only was Lady Molly too kind and compassionate a soul to resist aiding any in distress, her lively and clever mind could not resist a puzzle. And I, who remained her secretary in her married household, know too how often she was asked unofficially to help Scotland Yard to unravel some puzzle for them that the minds of mere men were unable to comprehend!

There had already been the hurried wedding, of course, some five years previously, before Captain Hubert de Mazareen had been arrested for that dastardly crime so carefully set up to implicate him; but my dear lady and her husband had a service of Blessing as soon as he had recovered from the privations of gaol to see fit to take on the duties of a husband.

It was a less private affair than the wedding, where only I and Lady Molly's father had been in attendance; He alas! Now dead three years; but still the company was select, for my lady would not invite those of her former friends who had been ready to point the finger at her beloved husband. However, her new friends from Scotland Yard were all there – the Chief, Inspector Danvers, Elliott and Pegram and all the women of the Female Department – and a few select friends who had always stood by Lady Molly even in her darkest of hours when she appeared to have given her own true love up into custody.

Oh! What a handsome couple they made, my lady's beauty and the Captain's noble mien gilded with the true beauty of happiness and love! And how our friends cheered as they left the little church! And now there was a wedding breakfast and a dance such as any woman might hope for at her wedding for the celebrations of her friends!

We retired initially to the little house at Kirk near to where so much drama had taken place; with little Emily our maid to care for the house, and a man named Peters, an erstwhile soldier in His Majesty's Household guards who had written to the Captain on his release to beg to serve him, having narrowly escaped dishonourable discharge five years previously for fighting anyone who believed the Captain's guilt. Peters was built on almost as noble proportions as his master and had reached the rank of Sergeant from which he had been broken for his partisan defence of the Captain's reputation.

And it was here that Lady Molly first discovered that her reputation had gone before her and she was called upon for aid.

oOoOo

We had a visitor to our little nest in the person of Miss Lily Kirk; who was by way of being a cousin of sorts to Lady Molly. You recall, of course, when Lady Molly's father died he was succeeded as Earl of Flintshire by a cousin, having only one female issue, which cousin resided therefore at Kirk Hall. The lineage was impeccable though little enough was known of the previous whereabouts of the current Earl. Enough years have passed and the Earl has seen fit to cry shame on his detractors and tell the truth to shame the devil; but at the time nothing was known.

It came about therefore that the title passed to Edward Kirk, who moved into the Hall with his Italian wife, Suzanna, and their two children, Lily, then eighteen and John, still a schoolboy.

Everyone who reads society magazines will know that Lily Kirk had become engaged to Captain Lionel Deburgh, scion of an old and proud family, whose own exploits defending the Hull trawler fleet from foolish Russians who mistook them for the Japanese is well known; and how he and his ship 'Indomitable' escorted the Russian fleet firmly all the way to Japan as one of His Majesty's observers. Captain Deburgh had recently taken an inactive post which was, as Lady Molly had said at the time, actually very active indeed since he was an adviser on improvements to the screw turbine; about which arcane technologies I had neither knowledge nor interest, and marvelled once again at the depth and breadth of my lady's understanding!

This promising young man, shy by several years of his thirtieth birthday, was the intended of Lady Molly's cousin Lily, who at just twenty-one should have been the happiest person in the world.

I was amazed therefore after Lady Molly had asked her to sit, and herself poured tea for our pretty visitor, that tears should well up in those lovely eyes.

Of course one has to remember that something of the volatile personality of the Italian could be attributed to such an excess of emotion in front of those Miss Flint had never met before; for she resembled her mother closely with dark chestnut hair, deep chocolate eyes fringed with long sooty lashes, and that creamy skin which so often occurs in those of mixed blood, neither English nor Italian but exotically beautiful.

"Cousin Molly" she said "Is it true that you are accounted an expert at solving dilemmas and helping people with troubles?"

"I have that reputation" said my Lady.

"And you are no longer connected to the police? Oh I could not bear it if you were still connected to the police, for they would be bound to make everything public!"

"You wrong them" said my lady sharply "I am no longer connected; but there have been efforts made to protect the innocent by not revealing certain facts; to my personal knowledge. What is your problem, my dear?" and she gave her sweet smile to her cousin, that smile so reassuring that no troubled soul can fail to be moved to confide in her!

"Oh Cousin Molly!" cried Miss Kirk "You know, of course, that my grandfather, your father's uncle, disowned poor father when he was young for some trouble at Oxford?"

"I knew he had been cast off by the family; I have never known any details, nor have I asked" said Lady Molly.

"It was because he was caught playing cards where he should not have been or something; I did not perfectly understand" said Miss Kirk "But he went to Italy and vowed that if the family name was ruined by him gambling moderately and just amongst friends then he would make gambling his career. It was perhaps a foolish vow, but you must recall he was very young; and he became a croupier in a casino in Naples, and when he worked there he met the owner's daughter. That is my mama. And in time father owned the casino when Grandpapa retired; and – and when he was short staffed I have helped him."

She broke down in sobs.

"Very commendable that a daughter should aid her father" said Lady Molly soothingly "And for being cast off in so wicked a way it is understandable that your father might take such an attitude; and though running a casino might be frowned upon in England, why, I presume there is no question of that?"

"Father has kept a half share in it in case any of the family need it; and has too used the profits to make many improvements at Flint Hall" said Miss Kirk with quiet dignity. "It is run by a cousin of mama's, to whom father has made over the other half for his acting as manager. But we are not likely to go there again; which is a shame. I liked living in Naples. However, I have a new life – and I love Lionel, Captain Deburgh that is, very much."

"Wherein then lies the problem?" asked my lady with much patience.

"Because of Mr Wilfrid Fanshawe!" sobbed Miss Kirk.

"Wilfrid Fanshaw? A darkly florid man who seems to have no means of support who is known to have been cautioned for frequenting illegal gambling clubs?" asked my lady intently.

"Well I know he is a gambler, and he is dark haired and florid of complexion" said Miss Kirk "For he had been to Italy not long before father was notified that he was the new Earl; and he recognised me. And he says…." she faltered "He says that if I will not break my engagement to Lionel and marry him, he will see that Lionel's family will see it broken and I will be ruined and thought to be no better than I ought to be; and my family will be embarrassed also!"

"What a monster!" I interposed indignantly.

"A monster indeed" said Lady Molly thoughtfully "And if he is indeed a blackmailer then that could provide his invisible support. Tell me, what does Captain Deburgh know of your past?"

"Everything" said Miss Kirk, simply "I have no secrets from Lionel. And he has no quarrel with what I have done; nor does he believe the terrible construction that Mr Fanshawe swears he will put upon it. But his family might indeed have reservations if they knew; and he would prefer not to become estranged from them. Even though he said he would do so for me" she added.

"Come now, in your favour in this business you have an estimable young man in your fiancé" said Lady Molly "And one who does not shirk knowledge of the truth. I am inclined to advise you to place all into the hands of the police, my dear, who know how to deal with a blackmailer."

Miss Kirk gave a little cry and paled, swaying. My lady gently held her elbow until she was herself again.

"Oh I could not! I could not!" cried Miss Kirk.

Lady Molly sighed.

If only more people had a little more moral fibre they would not find themselves in such straits; as Lord Flintshire himself later proved by making a funny story of his exploits – but you have all read it in the society magazines – so that no censure was ever spoken of him or the Countess or their offspring again. That day was yet to come, however; and Miss Kirk could not bear to let the world know her family secret.

"Tell me, does this fellow hold any proofs that you have worked in your father's casino, even that it exists?" asked Lady Molly.

"Proofs? He has recognised me; it is proof enough" said Miss Kirk bitterly "Even if it were not true, as the slur he casts upon my chastity is not true, he is plausible enough; and Lionel's awful aunt would believe him. Besides, I could not brazen it out; I cannot tell lies readily for I blush!"

"Any woman might blush, accused of being what he seems to feel needs to be added to the tale of your aid of your father" said Lady Molly "Perhaps he does not feel that acting as croupier is enough to have you shunned. Unless it is merely a cruel refinement made only in suggestion to you that he would not dare promulgate to others in the hopes of frightening you to comply. If you will not place it into the hands of the police then I shall have to think hard about what to do. It is not as straightforward as finding some lever to get him to hand over proofs; and there is moreover the moral dilemma of his likely blackmail of others. Do not worry, my dear Cousin Lily; I shall find a way to remove this impediment from your happiness."

Miss Kirk cried again and eventually we were rid of her; I never met such a woman for tears!

oOoOo

"Tell me, Mary" said my lady, once Miss Kirk had withdrawn "In the case of a misery merchant like a blackmailer, do you feel that almost any methods might be condoned?"

I blinked.

"I would not advocate anything as extreme as murder" said I, cautiously.

Lady Molly's merry peal of laughter rang out.

"Why Mary, can you picture me killing my cousin's tormentor? That is quite as melodramatic as anything an Italian might have made up!" she said.

I flushed.

"You did ask if almost any means might be condoned" I said, a little defensively.

"Why so I did!" said Lady Molly "I apologise, Mary; I should have said any REASONABLE means; reasonable that is from the point of view of common sense and NOT necessarily the sort of thing the chief might like."

"You are planning on blackmailing him into stopping this?" I asked, knowing my Lady's methods are not always orthodox.

"It crossed my mind" said Lady Molly "But I think we need a means in which he is entirely taken out of circulation so that he cannot blackmail anyone. Go and make another pot of tea, my dear; and take one to poor Hubert who is languishing in his study. You may tell him about this; I have no secrets from my husband, but no young woman is going to pour out her troubles in front of a man. That was why I banished him to the study."

"But how did you know that she would have troubles?" I cried. "It might merely have been a cousinly call!"

Lady Molly laughed.

"When she had written to ask if she might BEG a meeting with me as she had something PARTICULAR to discuss?" she said "Come, Mary – you read the letter from her; such wording is, when from a lady, almost always an indication that she wishes to consult another woman about a problem that she has, and it is almost always of a delicate nature. Couched in slightly more vulgar terms and from a lower class woman a similar note would be one hinting at blackmail" she added "Where the particular matter was a subject the writer might think the recipient would not like to be known."

I shook my head in chagrin; I still had much to learn.

oOoOo

Captain de Mazareen was glad of a cup of tea and buttered tea-cakes – I brought him a damp flannel in a little bowl too to remove the evidence from his fingers so he would not smear books or papers – and to find out what was troubling Miss Kirk.

"I did not think it would be long before Molly would be back in harness, even if only unofficially" he said tolerantly "She has had a taste of solving troubles; and she will not lightly put down that thrill, while the rest of us must trot to her command, eh, Mary? Well you had best go to her and find out what her orders are; if she needs me to play a part she will doubtless let me know."

I have often reflected what a gracious man the Captain is; owing his freedom to his wife's efforts it would be easy for a lesser man to be jealous of her successes which, allied with a resentment that the little woman had been the one to secure his freedom not he, might have led to him trammelling her. Not the Captain, however, who is a great man in his own way! And who has the confidence in himself, and in the love that lies between him and my lady, to give her every freedom and not to resent her involvement in the affairs of others who need her aid; and who will jokingly speak of taking her orders himself because he has no fear of any loss of face or that any should think him unmanned to follow her lead!

oOoOo

My Lady was sitting with her chin in her hands staring at nothing; but she had that brightness to her eyes that presaged ideas burgeoning within her fertile brain. I sat quietly with a book; for these reveries of hers should not be disturbed before she is ready herself to disturb them.

At last she stirred with a satisfied little smile and turned to me.

"We shall need to go up to town, Mary" she said. "I need to take an apartment somewhere fashionable; Mayfair perhaps. And it must have a guest room; I believe that I shall invite Lady Artemisia Deburgh to stay with me. She was a friend of my Godmother's you know; so as her nephew is also to marry my cousin I think that it would not be unreasonable. Ask Peters to come in; I have a number of commissions for him to complete."

"Am I to know what the scheme is?" I asked.

Her merry laugh pealed out again.

"Why Mary, you are to be central to it!" she said "I must trust your quick wits and deft fingers; for you are NOT known to Wilfrid Fanshawe, whereas I most certainly will be – though I doubt I have exchanged a dozen words with him, he will have seen all the publicity surrounding Hubert's release, and the part I played in it. He will mistrust ME; for he will be aware of the relationship no doubt. But nothing was published about Miss Mary Granard, who is to be the daughter of an industrialist, entering society. Fetch me Peters now; I will tell you more later."

With that, for the time being, I had to be content.

oOoOo

I was not to share a flat with Lady Molly in town; though I had one in the same building. Lady Deburgh, who had married her own cousin and so had a double dose of the family arrogance, was a formidable old woman and Lady Molly was in my opinion little short of a saint in the way she spoke so sweetly to her without – so clever as my lady has always been! – once permitting herself to be bullied. Captain de Mazareen stayed largely out of the grande dame's way; and who can blame him! It is one thing to face the Boer; it is another to be confronted by the artillery of an English Great Lady whose horse and foot contain innumerable ancestors stretching back to the Conquest and all of them hostile.

I however, as Miss Juliet Vanallen, was to have a positive whirl of gaiety, entering upon the town with a few carefully sown rumours that I was an heiress, with a father in some unspecified but profitable trade.

Naturally though wealth may make a girl more acceptable to society, one still has to be accepted; and to be acceptable. And Mr Fanshawe was soon in my circle, carefully digging for anything in my background that would mean that my supposed fortune might gently bleed into his pocket if one might put it slightly vulgarly.

Equally naturally, there were enough pointers for him to find; not least the uncomfortable but actually quite fetching permanent wave Lady Molly had insisted that I have; it is the invention of a German gentleman called Nessler, invented just a few years ago and demonstrated in Oxford Street and though I call it uncomfortable, it is preferable by far to sleeping nightly in curling rags and much more profound in its nature! It is however a trifle nervous to be wired up to an electric light fitting for some five hours with the stink of sodium hydroxide, and the fear that the weights and pulleys that hold the rods around which one's crowning glory is twisted might fail and cause horrible burns. However, for my lady and her poor cousin I would endure more quite willingly – especially to rid the polite world of a dastardly blackmailer!

My tight curls were to serve the purpose of a discovery by Fanshawe that my supposed family included a negress within it; and whilst one might carry that off in society with other connections, an industrialist's daughter seeking to MAKE connections might well be chary of anyone discovering her antecedents. And my hair was to be yet another 'proof' that he might threaten me with. I pointed out to Lady Molly that certain families of Dutch extraction also exhibit tight curls; but she told me to hush since I was not only better informed but far cleverer than Fanshawe, a compliment albeit delivered in slightly tart tones by my lady.

Consequently, when Fanshawe had been permitted to find the final 'proofs' he wanted he duly approached me to discuss the matter at a party we were both attending.

Naturally I cried, and begged, and pleaded; and finally called him a monster of unfeeling and suggested that he come back to my apartment where I might find him the money he required to keep his tongue still on the matter.

We mounted the stairs and I turned the key in the door and went to put on the light.

I had not, at this juncture, taken my gloves off at all.

"The fuse has blown" I said crossly "Or perhaps I forgot to put money in the meter."

"The latter is more likely you fluffy little fool" he said.

Somehow I preferred his honest contempt for the character I was playing to his spurious compliments.

"Go on into the lounge" I said pushing him through the door "Here, hold this" I put a box into his hand; and dropped a couple of items into his pocket. One of them was the necklace I had been wearing; a second was a lockpick; the other was a fuse. "I will go and feed the meter."

I did no such thing.

I left him in the dark and ran downstairs to blow a police whistle hard.

Upstairs the beams of those excellent inventions, the American Ever Ready flashlight sprang out; and there were cries of horror. My part was done and I slipped quietly back to MY apartment.

Yes, gentle reader! I had lead Fanshawe not to MY apartment but to Lady Molly's; where he was now being tackled by the redoubtable Peters and Captain de Mazareen; and where the police officer who pounded up the stairs found him with Lady Molly's necklace in his pocket, for such I had been wearing, and Lady Deburg's priceless emeralds in a box in his hand, where Lady Molly had taken them from the safe for me to find and hand to him; the safe wide open and too a missing fuse and incriminating lockpick within his pocket.

He might explain until he was black in the face that he had escorted a Miss Vanallen home; for there was no such resident in the building. And with my permanent temporarily held down with pomade, under a decorative scarf, and my face known to most of the officers in London no likelihood of ever finding a Miss Vanallen either nor – since the officer had no reason to suspect that I might be such a person – would he be asked to identify me, the only other young woman in the apartment building.

They would search his home of course and find some of his blackmail material; and would doubtless decide that he had taken to jewel robbery as a sideline. And now that Lady Deburgh had seen him as a housebreaker and thief she would never believe any tales against her nephew's bride from him.

Oh how the chief would have disapproved!

But Lady Molly withdrew all charges of housebreaking and theft – claiming that she had been through enough lately – so he was only prosecuted on the blackmailing charges that arose; and by Lady Deburgh. Which was, when all was said and done, quite poetic.

And when news of his arraignment was published in the paper Miss Kirk came to see my dear lady and proceeded to show that her Italian temperament was as equal to tears of joy as to tears of sorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**2**** The Stone in the floor**

Lady Molly was always a most gracious lady as befitted her birth and breeding; and nowhere was that more apparent when she extended her kindly interest to the doings of the local people as spoken of by the vicar.

The Reverend Appletree was a vicar of the old school; spare, upright, scholarly and on the wrong side of sixty, with an untamed shock of white hair springing from a high forehead and _pince-nez_ that seemed in imminent danger of sliding down his narrow, aristocratic nose. Every now and then he would adjust them, more, I thought as a nervous gesture than because he felt a need.

He had come to see my lady and her husband to persuade them to donate towards the repair of the bell tower; it had developed a nasty crack in it and was no longer safe and would either have to be taken down at great expense, or mended at a relatively little greater expense.

"I had a little money saved from fetes and bazaars" sighed Reverend Appletree "I had intended it to build a church hall where the Sunday school children might be separate from the church; it is not ideal having their own little meeting at the back of the church. Especially as now that is under a dangerous tower. And I hoped we might start a little club of some sort for boys and another for girls to give them something to do at least one evening a week . These times, these morals you know…."

"Indeed" said Lady Molly. "Mary and I might be able to give an evening once a week to help at any girls' club, Mr Appletree; and my husband for a boys' club."

I might not have actually felt like volunteering had the decision been left to me; but as always I was obedient to my Lady and nodded acquiescence. Captain de Mazareen merely caught my eye with a look of amused resignation; whilst 'obedient' does not suit as an adjective any man when referring to his behaviour towards his wife he was nevertheless generally inclined to fall in with most of his wife's ideas and schemes.

"Well therein lays the trouble" sighed the Reverend "That there isn't going to be a church hall or any groups able to get under way; because unless there is a way of raising the money to mend the tower quickly by other means I shall have little option but to sell the church lands adjacent to the cemetery where I had planned to have a wooden structure put up for such activities. With plenty of room, as it stands, to play outside; but I have received an offer from a firm of builders, the ones who have built the new development at the other end of the village, the children from which I hoped to give a good grounding to."

"Dear me!" said Lady Molly "That does sound a dilemma. I am wealthy, Mr Appletree, but not sufficiently so to be able to pledge the money. However I am willing to help with fund raising; there is enough vulgar curiosity about my time in Scotland Yard; would perhaps a game of murder, played with those who bought tickets perhaps be a change to the usual ways of fund raising or would it offend your morals?"

"Dear me no…. indeed it sounds quite stimulating!" said the Reverend looking quite boyishly enthusiastic "And of course it is perfectly moral, for the point of the game is for the supposed murderer to be apprehended, proving that the sixth commandment is indeed always upheld and justice done."

"Good; I shall write a list of my wealthier friends who might be induced to contribute also" said Lady Molly crisply. "Prevention of criminal tendencies by good training in youth is far better than having to arrest them when they are older."

The good Reverend beamed.

I fancied that my lady and I and probably the good Captain were about to be giving up more than one evening a week for there would too be preparation of activities and no doubt weekend exeats too.

The good Captain coughed deprecatingly.

"If you are looking for a boys' club that trains cleanliness, Godliness and useful skills for life, Reverend, I can think of nothing better than Robert Baden Powell's Boy Scouts; they were set up a couple of years ago and have proved themselves adept at dealing with many emergencies. I should be happy to take on the duties as Scout Captain" he said.

"It is not militaristic then?" asked the Reverend.

"Tut, Reverend" said the Captain "There can be nothing against teaching youths self discipline; it worked wonders for many a raw and less than well intentioned recruit when I was in the army and I fancy that instilling a habit of smartness and precision on a boy can do nothing but good."

"Well Captain de Mazareen, if you would be good enough to find out more…"

"Hubert has already been looking into getting Boy Scouts started in Kirk" said Lady Molly in her lovely voice. "There are also Girl Scouts, though many mothers are wary of permitting their daughters to take part in the outdoor and character training activities that the boys do. However I understand that there is a move afoot to make a special section for girls that will be oriented towards more feminine skills like nursing as well as learning independence of character and to be leaders within the Empire."

"Excellent!" said the Reverend. "Perhaps Captain, you will give a talk about it in the church one evening?"

"I should be delighted" said the Captain "how goes the removal of the broken tiles by the way?"

"Excellently well" said the reverend enthusiastically "I never liked those garish tiles anyway; having Porson's ox get into the church and smash them all was really almost an act of God."

"Certainly by way of an innocent but heartfelt artistic critique" murmured the Captain with one of his laughing looks at Lady Molly, who smiled on his levity with gentle exasperation.

The reverent went on,

"Indeed the removal of the tiles has brought up a bit of a mystery, My Lady."

I have always maintained that my lady originally entered the service of Scotland Yard solely in order to bring about justice for her wrongfully accused husband; but something about dealing with crime and criminals day in and day out had instilled in her a love of the thrill of uncovering mysteries, and though someone who did not know her might not notice any change in her posture or expression at all, I, who had become her closest friend, noticed an almost imperceptible change in the way that she sat; perhaps she sat up a little straighter, perhaps she leaned forward a little; but you could not say for certain that she did either of those things! What was most tangible for me was a sudden air of stillness to my lady, that was akin to the stillness of a cat that watches at a mouse-hole; a concentration.

All she said however was,

"Indeed?" to this bald statement of mystery.

"Yes indeed. Under the tiles we uncovered a memorial stone – quite possibly the bones of the deceased are interred under it too."

"Nothing unusual in that" said the Captain "Most old churches have such stones, and indeed even brasses, set into the floor."

"Oh! Quite so" said the Reverend Appletree "And at least the brasses were lifted when those awful tiles were laid; we have the two that there were, as I am sure you recall, set now into the walls of the church; saving only those in the Kirk Chapel which were already raised."

The Kirk family chapel was a magnificent affair built in the late middle ages and containing brasses and effigies to any number of members of the family; you will, of course, have seen photographs of it in the Flint Hall official guide book as an appendix on other things pertaining to the family. The only change that had taken place in that chapel was the moving of the tomb of Margaret Undershawe into a dark corner; the unfortunate lady was a daughter of one of the Earls of Flintshire – I forget which one save that he had a wild reputation in his youth and the painting by Frans Hals at the Hall reflects that, in one of the last paintings the artist ever did – and that wildness was exhibited in a too uncontrolled way by all the poor woman's sons. One is said to have fled the country after killing a man in a duel, another was reputed to have been a pirate and a third became notorious in France for having attempted the seduction of the King's mistress Madame de Pompadour, and was known as a notorious rake.

However, my reflections on the memorials in the church were nothing to the matter; and I returned my thoughts to listening to the good Reverend in the hopes that he might manage to come to the point.

The Captain felt the same way, for he asked with some asperity,

"What then is so mysterious about this stone?"

"Well you see" said the Vicar "It specifies a TIME of death as well as a date. Which I thought odd. I wrote down the wording on it" he added, fumbling in his pocket book and passing the paper to Lady Molly.

She glanced at it and raised one delicate eyebrow infinitesimally; but I saw that she was surprised.

"Fascinating" she murmured "This reads:

.../.../.../...Diggory

.../.../.../.../...Undershawe

Safe with Me...

Who stores up Treasure on

earth knows not who will gather it

1759, 4th August, 4 of the clock"

"How extraordinary!" I said. "And how inelegantly it is laid out!"

"Indeed" said Lady Molly "And more extraordinary in that none of the Undershawe boys was named Diggory. To my recollection they were Jeremy, Nathanial and Edmund; and little Jonathon who died young. Might we step over to the church now we have finished our tea, Mr Appletree? I should like to see this stone."

"Certainly, Lady Molly" said the Vicar "The sun will not set for a little while yet; we should have a clear view. The oil lamps smoke so, I hate to light them unless they are going to be alight for some little while."

We all duly stepped over to the church, which was less than half a mile. Lady Molly was very brisk and decisive in her movements; and such an elegant lady, the Captain was always pleased to be seen out with her!

In due course we came to the little parish church set upon a slight eminence. The age of the village was apparent in the early Norman stonework of the lower half of the tower, though the Norman arch was not noticeable until one entered the fine big teaching porch that had been built in the transitional period; and though tradition has it that the font is also Norman this is just the wishful thinking of those who try to find antiquity in everything believing that such alone can lend dignity and value to any structure. The Reverend Appletree had himself found documentation to the effect that the font was renewed in the time of the early Restoration, hence its plain appearance for the parish was much impoverished from supporting the Kirk family in their endeavours against the Parliamentary forces. It had never been made more ornate even when the Earl of the time had returned in triumph with his king, Charles the Second; he had, instead, endowed a stained glass window for both the East and the West Windows, the latter of which had survived all odds and remained intact despite the crack in the tower above it. You must understand that in a small church such as the original part of this church was, despite the addition of an aisle on the north of the nave and an extension to the nave and the big Kirk Chapel, the whole length of the building was used; an archway leading into the space under the tower, wherein the Sunday school had always met. The ropes hung down from the bells above, the dollies looped and tied well out of the reach of interfering little fingers, and alas! Silenced until it became safe to ring them again. A narrow spiral stair led up to the first floor above this little room, though in reality it was at the level of a second storey room, wherein many of the church records had been kept until the crack became wide enough for rain to drive in. The bells lay in the chamber above and the crack originated – so I understood – in the poor repair work that had been done to the pierced stone sounding hole.

The setting sun shone brightly through the West Window, turning plain stonework to jewels where the coloured shafts of light touched. An hour or so before it must have coloured most of the nave at this time of year; now only a few transient rainbow hues touched the floor, the majority of the colour dancing around the wall and the big plain windows that were on the south wall. The rapidly fading colours were a reminder that we were speedily approaching the end of the summer; and that was an ominous herald of how much the worsening weather would surely damage the tower.

However, such pessimistic wool-gathering would not aid my lady; and I followed her and the captain in the wake of the eager Vicar.

He pointed out the stone. My Lady walked delicately over it to the other side where she might more readily read it.

She considered deeply.

"I think" she said "It might be as well if we reconvened here on the fourth of August at four o'clock; or rather some minutes before so we might be in place."

"By George, Molly, you're surely not suggesting that being a hundred and fifty years later the fellow will get up and walk are you?" joked the Captain.

"I fancy that would be unlikely" said my lady "But I would point out the singular choice of the arrangement of the lines and the singular first name of the deceased."

"Do you think then that it is so poorly arranged because there is some that has been worn away?" I asked "It looks quite unworn in the rest of it."

My lady shook her head.

"Wait until the appointed hour of the appointed day" was all that she would say. And with that, Mr Appletree and I and even the Captain had to be content.

oOoOo

I have to say I found the next week or so hard in my curiosity; and Lady Molly would do nothing but laugh and tell me to wait and see.

"Well then" I said "Let me keep my mind occupied by organising a game of Murder for the fundraising."

"Oh! That is a game best kept for the middle of winter, for a Christmas party" said Lady Molly carelessly; and I have to say after having volunteered herself and me to run a girls' group and to undertake fundraising I thought her attitude of _laissez faire_ now to be very odd indeed.

However when she has behaved in a way that seems out of character in the past it has always transpired that her clever head has been far beyond my humble thoughts in its evolutions; and I sighed but said no more, merely occupying myself with making two lists; one of fund raising ideas that I fondly hoped might prove more original than the inevitable sales of work, fêtes and so on; and one of activities that might both tempt and train young girls into growth into good women. My lady glanced over my shoulder and laughed her attractive laugh.

"If all goes well there will be a structured program for girls in the new form of Girl Scouts" she said "Which will encourage them to learn new skills with the promise of badges awarded for attaining a suitable level of competence in the skill they have been learning, or interest they undertake. However, I do like this idea, of gardening, to have their own plots on the grounds of the hall-to-be; and there could be no harm in the boys doing likewise, perhaps pooling their efforts with the boys doing the heavy work. As to sewing for the poor of the parish, that too might be admirable were we not anticipating that the girls we are training might well actually BE the poor of the parish. I thought perhaps we might encourage them in the making of their own stylish clothes; paying for the fabrics week by week. They will appreciate it much more, Mary, if they have had to pay for the fabric you know" she added gently "Whereas the growing of vegetables, and perhaps the keeping of some chickens, might be a very real boost to the economy of a poor household; and that might be a gift to them. Though if they wish to keep chickens – there is certainly a poultry keeper badge for the boys – they should purchase chicks. Nobody wants to be a charity case, my dear; we must remember that" and then she kissed me fondly on the cheek to take away the slight censure. She was absolutely correct of course; it would never do to insult the pride of a poverty stricken family.

"I had thought that a weekly membership fee would cover such you see" I said.

"No my dear; that must pay the church for the heating and lighting of the hut over the winter months" said my lady "And even if the church had money and to spare, that this must be so is also good training."

"Unfortunately it looks as though there will be but little to lay out; and this is but a pipe dream" I said "Though I have written out some ideas to raise money."

My lady looked over the second list.

"You HAVE been busy, Mary!" she said "I think some of these are excellent ideas; a treasure hunt all about the village that the participants must buy the first clue as their way to enter; very good. Treasure is such an evocative word, don't you think?"

"Indeed" I said "But that is really a summer activity and there is precious little summer left; I fear it must wait now until next year."

"Oh I fancy that will be soon enough" said my lady. "a concert! That might take place at any time of year – if we have the level of talent to put together a programme that is! Better though than the play you have crossed out; a concert may have any number of different turns and does not require the soothing of frayed egos in an amateur cast."

"I recall some of the friction of plays put on in an impromptu way when you were still living in Kirk Hall. Lady Molly" I said "And though you most wonderfully managed to sooth all the ruffled feathers I can see that it might not be satisfactory to try to bring a village cast to a level of competence to actually charge for admittance."

"Yes, that was well reasoned" said my lady. "I like the way however you are considering involving all the village and not just, as my dear husband rather vulgarly put it, touching our wealthier acquaintances for a donation; nor expecting the work to be done by the county. Though there are those of the county who would like to keep it within their own ranks….."

We shared a look and both laughed a little. It serves no purpose to name the large and redoubtable lady of whom we were both thinking who took social snobbery to a level that one might presume HER to be the daughter of an Earl, not my dear lady; whereas she was in fact the daughter of a coal merchant who had married a business man of considerable success in a patent sort of corset fastening. I am afraid I also thought of the Captain's flippant comment that her husband had started out by travelling in corsets which may be taken two ways and the Captain meant that it should be so. It comes of having been in the military of course; and naturally he would not make such jests outside our own circle, but times are freer now that I might mention his jocularity without as much fear of causing offence nor of offending my dear lady.

However that is by the by; save that any fund raising that we engaged upon would be likely to have this particular lady inclined to wish to be at the forefront of it; but my lady was more than equal to dealing tactfully with her.

Indeed Lady Molly had managed to tactfully get rid of the woman and imparting no more information to her than to the rest of us when she had turned up to ask what 'all this nonsense' was that the vicar was talking about keeping some kind of vigil for a man dead a hundred and fifty years 'for all the world as though we were Papists'.

Lady Molly had elevated her beautifully shaped brows and asked whether the woman had any connection with the Undershawe family.

"Well no I do not" she had said.

"I, however do" said Lady Molly quietly "And this is by nature of being a family matter; not in any wise an invitation to anyone else who is NOT personally concerned to attend."

It was a less gentle snub than she might have given another; but this woman might have had a hide of an elephant and was impervious to either hint or gentle reproof.

oOoOo

I must say I was eager to see what was afoot on the fourth day of August and went eagerly across to the church with my lady and the Captain. It was still very hot and I was glad to get into the cool of the church, the coloured glass cooling the heat of the sun somewhat as it threw a facsimile of the Western window down the centre of the Nave. It was a depiction of the Annunciation with the Angel Gabriel clad in gorgeous blue robes with red wings. It was said to be a secret allusion to the Divine Right of kings that had caused King Charles the First to lose his head; and to which Charles the Second never publicly subscribed.

"Now if everyone pleases, the eastern side of the stone" said my lady firmly. We all carefully climbed over the piles of tiles that were still being taken up, quite hideous things that had been bought for the church by one of my lady's ancestresses to celebrate becoming a Lady in Waiting to the young Queen Victoria. And then we waited. The moments stretched with awful intensity until I felt I could almost scream with pent up emotion, and curiosity. Needless to say I did not do so pointless a thing.

And suddenly I realised that it was four of the clock – and Lady Molly pointed dramatically.

In red light certain words sprang up

'Dig Under Me Treasure'.

"Dear God!" said the Vicar in profound shock.

"I believe there are implements in the sexton's shed" said my lady sweetly.

"You knew!" I said.

She shrugged.

"Let us say, from the juxtaposition of the words and partial words I guessed" she said in her gentle voice.

The Captain went to get a crowbar and spade from the sexton's shed and returned with that worthy wanting to see for himself what his tools were being used for.

As it happened there was no need for any digging; raising the stone revealed a cavity in which there was a chest, and on top of it a scroll case. Lady Molly picked up the scroll case and withdrew a parchment from it with her long, delicate fingers.

She read out loud from the horrid handwriting of the time.

"I Nathanial Undershawe, being in as sound mind as any and more than most of my relatives, do leave this my last will and testament. In this chest lie the proceeds of a life of crime and most excellent sport; which I bequeath in its entirety to the people of the village of Kirk, because of all the fools I have known there, the reverend was a man of kindness and compassion who gave me what very few morals and virtues I might die possessed of; and if his successor be a worthy man then he will use this for great benefit as he see fit. I make the current reverend my trustee. Signed this day by my hand. He has" said Lady Molly "Signed and dated it and it is witnessed by two other hands; I believe it is a valid testament."

"I wonder…. One should not profit from crime….. do you think what there is might morally be put towards the tower?" asked Mr Appletree.

"There is no possibility of even finding the victims of my disreputable relative's activities let alone reimbursing them" said Lady Molly "He has repented and wishes it to be used to the good of the village; I should say that putting some towards the repair of the bell tower would be an excellent way to use it for the church is the heart of the community; and then your dream of organisations for the young folk may too be realised."

The vicar nodded; and gulped.

"Will – will you open the chest My Lady?" he asked "I – I really cannot!"

Lady Molly smiled and proceeded to unhasp the lid and throw it back.

We all gasped.

The gold! The silver! The jewels! Doubloons, pieces of eight, whatever they might be, the coins were a priceless collection without even taking into account their weight in precious metal!

There would be enough here to mend the tower and build a meeting hall and still have a fund over for anything that might be needed!

Needless to say the Captain and the Sexton stood guard over the priceless haul until a coroner might be found to hold a proper inquest on the horde; but with the will intact there could be no reason that the laws pertaining to Treasure Trove might be called into play. However, Mr Appletree quite rightly wanted to have everything legal; and the treasure was placed into a bank. A document of trust was drawn up by a solicitor which named Mr Appletree and all subsequent vicars as trustees, and named besides on Mr Appletree's request the law firm, and too Lady Molly, her heirs and successors.

Lady Molly would have demurred but Mr Appleton was so keen to have no room for either misappropriation of funds or indeed accusation of the same that she finally agreed on the grounds, as the vicar put it, that it was her duty to her family member.

I am only glad that I was one of those privileged to have seen such a coruscating collection as few have ever seen, that even put the jewel-bright colours of the sunlit window into the shade!


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N Yes there is a crossover reference to Scarlet Pimpernel._

**3**** The Sporting Chance**

When Lady Molly received an invitation – nay, call it a plea! To spend the weekend with her husband and anyone else she cared to take at Blenthorpe Hall, signed by a Miss Helen Ambrose she immediately made every arrangement to be able to do so; though it was right after she had needed to sign documents and go to all that trouble over being a trustee of the pirate treasure.

I was surprised and said so.

"Why Mary, when a letter is written in the hand of a lady who is plainly distraught, if I might lend my services to her future happiness, do you not feel that I should do my best?" she chided gently.

"I can find nothing of this Miss Ambrose in Debrett's" I said.

"You will not; though her father is a peer his knighthood was only announced in the last birthday list and our Debrett's is some years old" said Lady Molly "But when such an impassioned plea is made by a young woman so unfortunately placed as Miss Ambrose I could not refuse it whatever the status of her father! I fear my dearest Mary you are just a little too protective of my consequence at times."

"It is more that I am protective of your time with Captain de Mazareen" I said "That I dislike seeing all and sundry – whatever their social rank – expect you to find their lost pooches or expect you to run about the country doing such mundane chores of tracking down thieves that any ordinary policeman can manage. The letters you have received recently have had nothing that require the especial hand of an extraordinary woman like yourself."

"Ah! An interesting choice of adjective" said my lady "Bearing in mind that Miss Ambrose has written of an extraordinary theft."

"But only a theft" I shrugged "Doubtless she engages on hyperbole as it is so fashionable so to do in order to make the loss of her purse or her pug seem more glamorous."

My lady smiled.

"Perhaps; if she were an ordinary or fashionable young woman, Mary" she said. "Come! Cast your mind back to the society papers; surely you did not miss seeing the notice of the engagement of Miss Ambrose to Mr Philip Strickland? Ah, I see that you do now!"

I was suitably mortified; since I had remarked – as, gentle reader, I am sure many of you remarked on reading that passage! – that it seemed a shame that a sportsman like Mr Strickland, heir to the Earldom of _shire, Oxford blue and noted tennis player too, should tie himself to a helpless cripple.

"Miss Ambrose is stricken with Infantile Paralysis" I said "I recall now – poor thing! And her father has tried any and all cures for her to no avail. It seems a very odd engagement."

My lady smiled.

"Not if you also recall that as well as being an Oxford Blue, Mr Strickland graduated from Balliol with a double first in classics and modern languages. And Miss Ambrose is also learned in Classics; why if only women were able to matriculate at university she would be, from all I have heard, quite capable of taking a first class degree herself; if indeed she were up to the rigors of university life which she would of course not be. She has been able to attend a few lectures but she has studied all on her own you know!"

"That is very commendable; and if he does not mind her intellectual attainments all well and good" I said "But surely such a sporting young man as Mr Strickland cannot want to tie himself to a cripple who cannot enter into his other interests?"

"Mary, Mary that is unworthy of your normally generous spirit!" said my lady "Have you not seen the photograph of Mr Strickland in 'The Sketch' playing tennis? The photograph quite clearly shows Miss Ambrose in her wheeled chair to the side of the court, cheering his efforts!"

"I only meant" I said, embarrassed "That she cannot join with him in any of his sporting pursuits."

"On the contrary" said Lady Molly "For I wrote to her and advised her to take up toxophily, which may be performed from a wheeled chair; which is why she writes to me now. And she already accompanies Mr Strickland in his motor-car and as I understand it has formed the intent, when they are married, of accompanying him on his city-to-city races as well as driving with him at Brooklands."

"She is then a brave young lady" I said, humbled by her courage to undertake such activities that I, able bodied as I am, might balk at. Archery may be a safe sport but I have often thought it possible that accidents might occur only too easily; and to career about the countryside or worse, a purpose built track on which formidable speeds might be achieved in a powerful automobile would not by my idea of pleasure, though I am not averse to a gentle game of tennis now that my dear lady has instructed me in how to play and includes me in sets when we play with her friends.

"She is indeed" said Lady Molly "And she would not write and beg me to come were she not in need of my aid. We leave as soon as we might pack my dear."

It appeared that the Captain had already had his marching orders and was ready before I was; but at least his automobile was a more sedate model than that favoured by Mr Strickland and we did not exceed the speed limit of twelve miles an hour. It was one of the warmest days we had had through what had been on the whole a quite miserable summer; it seemed as though we might have something of an Indian Summer to make up for it. Now we were well into the middle of August indeed the temperatures were better than any we had enjoyed in the previous two months! It was a relief, for I have to say there are few things more miserable than driving in the rain when the greater speed of automobile travel slashes it hard into the face and drives it into the clothes for a most unpleasant feeling!

oOoOo

Miss Helen Ambrose was a most attractive girl and it was such a shame, I felt, that she should be condemned to life in a wheeled chair. Her pale skin was shown up by the darkness of her natural curls and big dark eyes with their sooty lashes; if her nose was a little long for classical beauty somehow it loaned a distinction to what might otherwise have been an ordinarily pretty face. Her lips were rosebuds untouched by artifice and in life there was both a serenity and yet a liveliness of spirit that no mere photograph could convey, and Mr Strickland's choice became easier to understand.

There was a house party there. Miss Ambrose wheeled herself away from the group of young people who were sat about the tea table outside with the dark, aquiline featured man who must be Sir Bartholomew and the attractive and still comely blonde woman who must be his lady. Miss Ambrose smiled warmly.

"Molly! My dear friend! Let me show you to your room and we shall have a nice coze and catch up on all each other's news!" I was just wondering how she might have come to be so intimate with my lady when she murmured in a low voice "I pray you forgive the impertinence; but I need to speak alone with you!"

Lady Molly kissed the pale cheek.

"It's been too long" she agreed heartily "You recall Mary of course?"

"Who could forget?" said Miss Ambrose, her eyes sparkling amused mischief at my slight outrage. Suddenly I decided that I liked this girl and smiled at her.

"And this is my husband" said Lady Molly.

"Captain; I am sure you will be indulgent and permit me to steal your wife from you!" said Miss Ambrose, smiling appealingly at him. "Rutherford will bring up your bags and show you to your room presently!"

What could the Captain do save acquiesce to so charmingly worded a request?

We were led away within the Hall.

The Hall!

Well it has featured now in The Strand Magazine so everyone is of course familiar with the ugly brick building and its bizarre caricature of Gothic architecture in the most glaringly red of red bricks; and the ivy that softens that ghastly profile in its later magazine portrait had barely begun to grow under the new ownership of Sir Bartholomew Ambrose; though alas! He thought the formal gardens that accompanied his new acquisition and the fantastical topiary sufficiently in keeping to retain the same rather than permitting them to grow out and be decently clipped to less flamboyant hedges.

Helen – for so she asked us both to call her – led us to the doors of what turned out to be a lift, what I believe our transatlantic cousins call an elevator. The metal screenwork that closed it off was to my mind taking the décor of the house too far being designed after the fashion of some fantastic gothic tracery.

"Are you not afraid the doors might be accidentally left open and someone fall down the shaft?" I said nervously as Helen wheeled herself confidently forward. She laughed.

"Not at all, Mary; you see the patent Miles doors close automatically and prevent access to the shaft if the lift itself is not there" she said. "It is perfectly safe!"

Nevertheless I have to say I was not displeased when we had been conveyed upwards with a most unpleasant sensation and had quitted the lift.

We had been assigned pretty rooms next to each other, though of course Lady Molly's also communicated to her husband's room; and we convened in her room.

"My dear Helen; you wrote of an extraordinary theft" said Lady Molly gently.

"Indeed" said Helen "And I have invited exactly the same people as were here on the occasion of it, last week, at my engagement party. There can be no question of suspecting the servants; who would have easier opportunities to make such a theft and to leave less mess in so doing."

"Well thought out" approved my dear lady who gives credit where it is due; and too approves of those who make a point of protecting their dependants. "What is it that was stolen?"

"My birth certificate and papers of adoption" said Helen quietly.

I gasped.

"Ah; your father's wife wished everything tied up legally?" said Lady Molly.

Helen stared.

"You knew of the matter?" she asked.

"I? no! it is news to me; but since your resemblance to your father is quite plain I made a deduction that you were the child of some other liaison" said my lady.

"It is not so sordid as that bald statement makes it sound" said Helen. "My mother – I think of her as my mother – was unable to bring a child to term and the doctor told her that to continue to try would kill her. She begged my father to have a child with some girl who would be prepared to have a child for pay. There was a girl who had been ruined and abandoned; and papa arranged for her to have papers proving her a widow with her child – my older half brother I suppose – and when she had weaned me, he adopted me formally and my real mother and her son went with letters of recommendation to America where she might have opportunities to put the past behind her with, I believe, a pension to keep her in some comfort and a trust for her son on condition neither of them tried to contact the family. It must have been hard for the poor woman; but I am sure papa did everything that was proper. He is a hard man in business but a good man to his dependants. So he really is my father. I cannot see what would be the purpose of stealing such papers; even if I WERE adopted from nowhere, the adoption is quite legal and papa has a perfect right to leave his money where he chooses; nobody could undermine that."

"Have you considered the possibility of blackmail?" asked Lady Molly.

"What would be the point though?" said Helen "It is not a secret; if the information were published what would it change? Nothing."

"Your fiancé is aware of the true state of affairs?" asked my lady. Helen stared.

"Of course he is; I would not enter into an engagement without telling him everything. Indeed papa explained it all to Philip when Philip approached him for permission to address me formally; and then explained it to me. It was then that he gave the papers into my keeping."

"Your fiancé did not mind?" I asked.

Helen laughed in genuine mirth.

"Why should he mind, Mary? It is me that he wants to marry, not my ancestors! We are a meeting of souls that transcends such foolishness! Do you think he considers it a sacrifice too on his part and that he offered for me out of pity like Marianne Crowe believes?" she added with a hard little edge to her voice "As I found out when she was telling my other friends what she thought when she thought I could not hear?"

"No" I said; and found that I meant it. "I – did not properly understand until I met you; but now I see that you are…" I floundered.

"Mary means that your natural charm and vivacity are not readily conveyed in photographs" my dear kind lady came to my rescue and I was able to nod gratefully. Helen looked at me a long moment; then nodded.

"It is hard to see past the chair" she said in her soft voice "But you see, Philip has never pitied me. I get so tired of people being sorry for me; sometimes it almost makes me want to be sorry for myself. But there is never any profit in that; it is better to make the most of what one DOES have; and to give thanks to God that although I have not the strength to walk I have some movement in my legs and I am not helpless in such respects as might rob one of dignity. And I have my mind; and Philip respects my learning which is equal to his. And I may appreciate his physical prowess in sport even if I may not participate; in which I am no different in any respect to many a girl reared not to take part in much physical activity."

I was struck by the argument of this; for I, who was born into a poor family and went into service at twelve years old was active perforce; and Lady Molly had always been intrepid in her activities. She was not however typical of her class; many of whom are useful for very little save to become an ornament to the house of their husbands.

"If you have no fear of blackmail, why is it that you are worried by this?" I asked.

"Because it means that one of the people I have admitted into my circle of friends has betrayed that trust of friendship in rifling through my things" said Helen "And whilst I am ready to try to forgive if whoever has done this feels they have a valid reason I would not like to feel that I am gazing on all of them with suspicion. And at the moment I am doing so; and it is a chill in my heart that I cannot be natural with any of them for not knowing which might have pried into my personal things. It is not Philip" she added "I have asked if he had taken the papers for any reason. He would not lie to me; and besides I am as sure as I can be that I would know if ever he did so. But I must know; even if it ends one friendship it means that I can at least be natural with the rest. And even though I have my suspicions if I am wrong I should feel very bad if it later transpired that I was wrong and for a pure and not wholly rational hunch."

"You must be one of the sweetest natured people I have ever met!" I cried.

Helen laughed.

"It is good of you to say so; I have tried ever to mould myself, since this horrid illness, on a literary namesake; Katy Carr's cousin Helen, you know, from 'What Katy Did'."

"A most excellent book" agreed my lady "Though the sequel 'What Katy Did Next' is a sad reflection on the view on the British of the American writer! We are quite caricatured I declare!"

"But affectionately" said Helen.

I had not read the books, so remained quiet; though I had read 'Anne of Green Gables' when it became so popular, as all will recall, last year. It was only my lady's encouragement that had made me read much at all; for the Board School I attended until I left to go into service required only a basic sufficiency in the three 'R's and our few reading books had not been such fare as would capture the imagination of a child. I recall laboriously working out phrases from the Bible, King Lear and Great Expectations, none of which – unless it was merely that the passages were badly chosen – appealed greatly to a seven year old little girl whose soul yearned to be out of a stuffy yet cold schoolroom and up a tree.

"Tell us a little about each of your friends" said Lady Molly in her lovely and compelling voice "Then I shall be able to recognise each and start to make deductions. And hopefully resolve this matter before too much longer."

"Oh! If you may I should be very grateful!" said Helen. "Very well; Philip you must know but I will add him to the description for MY knowledge of his character must not mar YOUR judgement. He is described so often as the quintessentially English sportsman that he may almost wear that description like a jacket; but he is so much more. He is a deeply thoughtful man who considered before he speaks. Some see that as a weakness; but I consider it a strength."

"Indeed I agree" said Lady Molly "Whoever would speak without thinking is but a fool; and to be able to ponder deeper implications before making any utterance speaks of a deep young man who is deserving of an intellectual and deep fiancée like yourself."

Lady Helen flushed and looked pleased.

I considered Philip Strickland anew; those clean-cut looks of the paradigmatic Englishman were photographed often enough since he excelled at so many sports; to reconcile that with a man of deep thoughts was quite difficult. He was indeed an extraordinary young man.

Helen went on,

"Let me start with the men. I – I would hope that none of them would be so improper as to rifle through my room, or even come into it; but I must clear all. Philip's best friend – he is to be best man at our wedding – is Lord Percy Devinne. He's the younger son of the Duke of Rudford; his older brother Johnny is Earl Welhaven, but he had left university by the time Philip and Percy were up. Percy – well he looks the most vacuous fool you know; another sort of quintessential Englishman. He is also however very clever, he and Philip were the only men to take double first you know of their year. Percy has some sort of job in the Foreign Office; we're lucky to have him here, he's often away in some foreign country or other."

"I believe the less you say or guess about THAT the better, my dear" said Lady Molly gently "I have seen his name on certain documents that should not be discussed. I will ask him outright if he has been at your documents for any reason that seemed good for the security of the Empire; I fancy if he has it will be for what seemed an excellent reason."

"But why would my adoption papers be of interest to – let us not wrap this in clean linen for he is a friend whatever his occupation – a spy?" asked Helen.

Lady Molly shrugged.

"I cannot answer that; but I can hypothesise that if your mother or half brother were engaged in any activity or any person that brought them to the notice of the authorities it would be standard to make sure that they had not communicated with you and that you were in no wise involved" she said. "There are so many tensions in Europe; and these dreadful Bolsheviks and their violence must worry anyone. You must know that those who feel themselves to be disaffected are easy recruits for such anarchists and communists. If your half brother grew up discontented I could see them working on feelings of frustration that his sister lived a privileged life and he did not."

Helen paled.

"That I had not considered; but how could he feel it unfair? For I am my father's daughter – he is not my father's son."

"How? Because perhaps the seducer of his mother was also well off and he does not partake of the fruits of HIS father's hypothetical wealth where you do, dear Helen. Disaffection is not, I fear, always based on pure logic; and often those people who are disaffected would equally be bored and discontented individuals were they of the peerage and with a fortune at their disposal."

How true that was, I thought! Contentment is a rare commodity but even so most of us are happy to accept our lot in life and only the most miserable of people seek out circumstances to rail against. Even those who have most cause for complaint amongst the poorest will only agitate against circumstances when those circumstances become unbearable!

"How glad I am that your one time association with Scotland Yard will make it possible for you to make it a straightforward question!" said Helen. "For Percy is Philip's oldest friend and of all the group he is the one I would least like to suspect. And too if it were for such a reason – if he has taken the documents – it is easier to understand."

"Somehow I doubt it would be he however" said Lady Molly "Because a – yes, a spy – must needs remain hidden; to remove papers completely shows a lack of subtlety that is unlikely. He would be more likely – even if disturbed – to remember all he could, and preferably to take photographs of any document he considered important. Tell us about the rest."

"Very well. There's Jeff Raikes; he's amiable and a sportsman and he really does fit the archetype of no thoughts outside of sport. Very blonde, very firm jaw; will make an excellent husband for Isabel Cluny, to whom I shall return presently since he and she need never be troubled with a thought between them that might disturb their married bliss."

"I AM glad you can be sharp tongued, Helen!" I said impulsively.

She laughed.

"Oh I do not like them any the less; sometimes people who have no thoughts in their heads outside immediate pleasures may be quite restful!" she said. "And think how frustrating for either of them to be marrying someone who is clever and who would become exasperated by their often fatuous conversation!"

"It would be extremely trying for the clever party I should imagine" murmured Lady Molly who had been – to my certain knowledge – courted in her time by any number of fatuous sportsmen.

Helen gave a half smile; it produced if not a dimple, at least the suggestion of a dimple.

"The last male in the party is Paul Somercott" she said. "There is a hint of some foreign ancestry in him and his sister; they are dark haired and there is a slight olive cast to their skin; I believe there is émigré ancestry. Paul uses his hands a lot when he speaks; he's a – a NEAT sort of person. In all his movements very precise; almost feline in some ways. But as I like cats well enough I do not, as some people might, count it a fault. He and Margaret need wealthy friends however; they like to live beyond their means. I do not mind that; because I enjoy their company. I have heard Paul called an adventurer though."

"Might he, if he did not know that Philip knew all about you, perhaps want a means to break your engagement so he might propose?" I blurted.

"It is a reasonable question; you are learning to think logically" approved my lady as Helen looked startled.

"It is logical" said Helen. "I – I would not discount it. Nor that the siblings might act together to effect such a thing. I have turned down a proposal from Paul; but it would not be unreasonable on his part to consider renewing a proposal if my engagement were broken. Though Philip has not yet been approached by anyone."

"I suspect it is more likely that someone might take this opportunity to lay the papers in his room" said Lady Molly "which means that anonymity is preserved. Tell us about Margaret Somercott."

"She resembles Paul closely" said Helen "But where he is quiet and neat she is louder; still precise in her movements, graceful though would be a better word than neat. She laughs a lot; she takes life as she finds it. She is very petite; if her family had not been well born I think she would have made an admirable career as a ballet dancer, but of course that is out of the question."

It was of course; and I have often reflected that it is unfair on the impoverished gentry that they are bound by their class over what occupation they might seek to use travail to extricate themselves from financial embarrassment without losing the respect of their peers.

"So there are two other girls" said Lady Molly "You had mentioned – let me see, Isabel Cluny; engaged to Mr Jeff Raikes and not in your estimation very intellectual?"

Helen laughed.

"Oh Isabel is a society butterfly!" she said "Her major topic of conversation is society gossip; she knows all about YOU Molly dear; though from the point of view of your connections, and the romantic way you pursued the innocence of your husband while working at Scotland Yard. Apart from the social implications of those involved I doubt she has any clue about the cases on which you have worked however! But then, I have been fascinated by your work before I knew why you had taken the step to enter Scotland Yard and have newspaper clippings of all the cases in which your name was mentioned; and a few pencil notes of my thoughts on the subject especially when the cases vanished quietly. I would like to ask how close my guesses came some time if I may" she added shyly.

"I see no reason not to" said Lady Molly "After all most of them are old news now and it cannot hurt. Who is the final girl?"

"Oh that is Marianne Crowe" said Helen "I have known her forever; as have Philip and Percy of course! In the days when I was as active as Marianne we used to dog their footsteps you know, and they being normal and horrid little boys trying to put us off by rough games. Of course since we all grew up it is more convivial; and Marianne is very sporty and plays tennis so Philip has a partner for a game of mixed doubles. She plays golf too; it's a game I never could come to grips with even when I was fit, though of course we girls would caddy for the boys. I tease Philip about it" she laughed "And he teases me about having become ladylike in taking up embroidery. But Marianne is of the opinion that a woman may do anything as well as a man might; which may very well be true but mama has always taught me that it is unkind and unwise to permit men to hear such sentiments in case it is a blow to their egos."

"Your mama is very wise" said Lady Molly. "Men need to be protected and cherished."

"It would be nice, however" I interposed "If just sometimes they might acknowledge that we women do have brains and ability."

"I know my dear" said my dear lady "But when you find the one who acknowledges it in you, then you will have found your true mate; as have I, and as, I believe, has Helen."

"Indeed so" said Helen "And though Philip does not MIND Marianne constantly challenging him to this game or that I believe he finds her diatribes a trifle tedious! And that if she wins she questions him over whether or not he permitted her to do so; as though such a competitive spirit between old friends is anything but absurd!"

"Alas" said Lady Molly "Even young ladies who consider themselves verging on emancipation can at times be utterly absurd!"

"I had not thought of it in that light" said Helen "will you come down and meet everyone?"

oOoOo

"Meet Molly and Captain Hubert and Mary" said Helen "We're all on first name terms here! Marianne" she indicated a bouncing looking girl with bright blonde curls "Margaret" she indicated the dark girl "And Isabel" the pretty girl whose curls I would have been ready to wager owed their appearance to artifice more than nature. Of course I still had some curls at the end of my hair from the permanent curls I had taken of necessity to aid Lady Molly to catch a nasty blackmailer; but I fear I felt some prejudice over those who go to such lengths purely for fashion's sake.

"Oh, how do you come to know Helen?" asked Marianne "For I have known Helen forever and I am certain I have never met you before!"

"Oh we have been in correspondence for a long time" said Lady Molly easily; which was not entirely untrue.

"This is the first time we have met face to face" said Helen "But that does not stop us being friends! Let me introduce you to the men, Molly!" she added nodding to the men, who had of course risen. "Philip, my fiancé; Jeff; Paul; and Percy."

I was glad that we knew that Jeff was the one who was likely to be the one with no serious thoughts and Percy the one who was clever, for there was that about both, and Philip Strickland too, of the well bred Englishman with the typical immobile face. Philip Strickland had lively intelligent grey eyes; and Percy Devinne's eyes were too heavily hooded to tell, but Jeff Raikes had guileless blue ones without a thought behind them. They all shook hands, Jeff heartily and Isabel limply and the rest with some degree of firmness in between. Paul murmured that he was enchanted to meet any friend of the incomparable Helen; and I saw what she meant about there being an almost foreign air to his manner.

"Do you play tennis any of you?" asked Marianne "Isabel doesn't care to and Margaret is hopeless and of COURSE Helen does not; and I should like to play women against men and challenge Philip and… oh whoever he wishes to play with. Both Jeff and Percy have reasonable games though Jeff has the most challenging serve."

"Women may be said to GLOW where gentlemen perspire but if you ask me it's a horrid game that creates too much of either effect" said Isabel with a toss of her artificial curls. "Of course men are supposed to play those sorts of games to show how manly they are; but I consider it unladylike. The only exercise a lady should take is a little gentle riding and dancing."

"Oh unkind of you Isabel not to count archery" said Marianne "For I am sure nobody is as ladylike as Helen and naturally she cannot dance or ride."

"Dear Marianne, you do not need to stand up for me" said Helen "I can argue my own virtues well enough."

I glanced at Lady Molly who was looking particularly bland; she had noticed what I had noticed; not that I would ever be surprised at the remarkable faculties of my dear lady who was the most astute person I have ever met!

"Why, Mary and I both play tennis" she said "Perhaps if this is to be a war of the sexes, my husband might partner Mr Strickland and I partner Marianne."

"Philip, please, Lady Molly" said Mr Strickland.

"And it must of course be Molly if we are to be so intimate" smiled my lady who is normally less than enthusiastic about this modern trend to use first names amongst people who have not been close acquaintances for many years.

"You are a lady? I did not know" said Marianne abruptly.

"Oh she is the most romantic figure if I am correct!" cried Isabel.

"Isabel, my dear!" said Lady Molly "How sweet of you to recognise me; but I pray, no old news when I have such a short time to get to know everyone this weekend; I get so embarrassed hearing the story you know!"

Her wonderful way of persuading people to want to please her even worked on the featherheaded socialite and Isabel made no demur. It was quite apparent that Marianne at least looked horrified and bored at the word 'romantic'; most ill bred of her, I know, to show her feelings in front of others but it is the way with some of these young women who feel that the emancipation and equality they seek should be expressed by acting in a loud and vulgar manner, even though – and here lies the mystery of their behaviour! – no man of their class would consider acting so rudely.

"Well I am glad nobody wishes me to play the muscle bound hero when the day is still hot" said Paul cheerfully "I would rather laze about and chat in stimulating company than run around where no conversation is possible!"

It was agreed that a set would be played before tea, and my lady and Captain Hubert went to change; for though the day was lovely and warm the light would not hold long past tea time.

I wondered at my lady being keen to play tennis when there were people to observe; but of course she might manage to observe covertly while she played.

I found myself chatting to Margaret Somercott who found almost everything funny; she was one of those people who punctuate every remark with a giggle. I have to say I found her very inconsequential and boring, but since my lady has dragged me into her class by honouring me with her intimacy and friendship I have learned to have the manner at least of a well bred lady and not to show how tedious I found her. At least she had more brains than Isabel Cluny but her conversation consisted mainly of what plays and operas she had seen and asking me what I had seen. She was attempting to draw Lord Percy Devinne into the conversation too; and like the well-bred gentleman he was, he answered with perfect civility and good humour, able to cover for my deficiency of knowledge of the most fashionable plays. I had fortunately seen a production of 'The Admirable Crichton' by Barrie and was able to converse on that; though my expressed views that Lady Mary and Crichton should have pursued their happiness rather than convention shocked Margaret and made Isabel, who was listening vaguely, giggle in an embarrassed fashion. I was actually treated to an unhooded glance from Lord Percy; and discovered that his eyes were eggshell blue and very, very piercing. I found myself flushing.

"I have often thought myself that Barrie got cold feet at the last and originally meant your ending to be the one he wrote" he drawled "But it would not have taken I fear. Tell me Miss Granard, do you like Gilbert and Sullivan?"

I had not, I believe, given my surname.

"Yes, Sir Percy" I said "I find their works entertaining."

"Rather low stuff though surely?" said Margaret with a laugh.

"Why, Margaret I am devastated that you find me low!" said Lord Percy with a half mocking bow towards her.

Margaret flushed.

I realised at this moment that she had been throwing out snares for a wealthy son of a Peer and had realised a tactical mistake. I also realised that Lord Percy was quite well aware of her manoeuvres and was taking a slightly malicious delight in playing with her. I hoped he was not using me purely for his own amusement as well as to outflank her predatory interest.

"Oh do you find it amusing, Percy?" said Margaret with a laugh. "I dare say it makes a change for you to see something that is at least thoroughly English when you spend so much time abroad. Foreigners do not understand English humour."

Considering the quite foreign mannerisms she and her brother had I wondered if she did not wish to emphasise how English they were by birth.

"The Russians have no humour at all" said Lord Percy cheerfully "At least not that I have ever found. I played Katisha at Balliol when we put on an impromptu performance; great fun doncher know."

I had to laugh; the idea of this perfect English gentleman as a raddled old Japanese lady chasing the Mikado's young son was quite absurd! How sure he must be of himself to be ready to do something so ridiculous! I found our eyes met again and unaccountably I blushed!

He rose.

"Where are you going, Percy?" asked Margaret, a little petulantly.

"Oh I have a letter to post" he said casually "I thought I would walk to the post box. Will you care to come?"

"Oh Percy! It is too hot to bother!" said Margaret "Won't it wait until after tea? I'm not getting up now!"

"I however will bother" said Lord Percy. "Miss Granard?"

"I believe a short walk would be an excellent idea" I said. I had a feeling that I should go with him; perhaps I might find out if he had purloined the documents for some unknown purpose!

Margaret gave me a filthy look.

"Oh these energetic females!" she said casting a glance at the tennis game, which was only being properly watched by Helen and Jeff while Paul was trying to engage Helen in conversation. Lady Molly was playing with her usual cool aplomb and not, I thought, entirely able to make up for the fact that her partner was trying to show off her agility on the court in a way that was not always tactically sound.

oOoOo

"So, Miss Granard, what is the famous Lady Molly and her almost as famous amanuensis doing here?" asked Lord Percy bluntly.

"Well that depends whether you took any papers from Helen for some unspecified but presumably patriotic purpose" I retorted.

He stopped dead. We had exited the gates of the Hall and were in a narrow lane to the village, an idyllic country spot with skylarks twittering their paean of joy high above is and the sweet song of a variety of accentors in the hedgerow.

"You are ready to come to the point; the reports I have read on you both do not lie. Good" he said. "I like a chap who knows when not to bother to dissemble. Or of course a lady" he amended. I had to laugh.

"With all that the obnoxious Marianne does to cry out for her equality, it is I that you call a chap" I said. He grinned; it was an attractive grin, far removed from his polite and mask like smile.

"I do not think you are looking for my apologies" he said. "Of course women are equal in all mental attainments to men; physical prowess is perhaps another matter, but then, if it is not indelicate to mention, women are more able to undertake the rigours of child bearing than a man might. Equality need not mean identical abilities; but a recognition of different but complementary abilities. Phil is lucky; he has met the perfect woman for him. Some ladies doth protest too much."

"You have not told me if you took the papers" I reminded him "And you are beginning to make me wonder whether there is a motive of jealousy there."

He laughed.

"I did not take the papers" he said "You are tenacious as well and not easily sidetracked; yes, I confess that though I stated a true opinion it was by way of a test of your abilities. I take it that these papers relate to Helen's irregular parentage?"

"You know about it?" I asked.

"I have an innate curiosity that leads me to find out all I may about everyone I know" he shrugged with a deprecating gesture "I have known longer, I suspect, than Helen has. I never mentioned it to Phil; it was not my secret to speak of."

"Helen says that she told him" I said, deciding to trust him. "It is a curious theft."

"Do you think so?" said Lord Percy "Now I know that the papers have been stolen I would have thought the culprit was obvious; for the motive you cited."

"Can it really be? I would not have thought…." I said.

"Lady Molly appears to have all in hand" he said "Shall we enjoy our walk to the post box?"

"Have you really a letter or was it just an excuse for this discussion?" I asked.

"Oh! I have a letter; for my brother. It would have waited but I had three ulterior motives" he said.

"What were the other two?" I asked curiously.

"Can Mary Granard, lady detective have to ask? One I am sure you guess at least!" he said.

"To escape the attentions of Margaret?" I hazarded.

"Yes indeed; and to make a better acquaintance of the most interesting young lady at the gathering" he said.

I found my cheeks growing fierily hot!

"Lord Percy!" I said.

"You are right, Miss Granard; it was improper of me to speak in so forward a way after so recent acquaintance" he said "Which is why I like to address you formally until you might give me permission to use your first name. you see" he added "With Helen's other idiotic acquisitions it does not much matter."

"This is all going far to fast" I said severely "There is the post box; you shall post your letter and we must hurry back in case we are late for tea!"

He inclined his head and we returned without any further serious intercourse, for he introduced a safe topic of conversation of who I would consider should be put on the Mikado's little list.

We arrived back to find that the set had been one 6-4 to the men; and the tennis couples were going in to wash and change for the meal.

I went to see if my lady needed assistance; and she seemed happy to accept.

"I saw you leave with Lord Percy" she said.

"He – I cannot think that he has done it" I said, ashamed that I coloured. "He knows who we are and wanted to know what we were about. It seemed foolish to dissemble" I added.

"Quite right. Did he advance a theory? I presume so consummate a diplomat had the whole from you" she added.

I shrugged.

"I preferred to volunteer the information by asking him outright rather than let him draw a story from me" I said. "he is of the opinion that jealousy lies at the root of it."

My dear lady smiled.

"Oh VERY well done Mary" she said warmly. "You should know that I managed brief conversation with Philip; and he found the papers on his bed when he went to change. They are no longer missing."

"How mean and underhand!" I said indignantly "To try to undermine an engagement in so anonymous a way!"

"Ah, but that way" said Lady Molly "Our anonymous thief would be able to pursue a courtship – if these papers DID break the engagement – without anyone knowing who was responsible. You have gauged who did this, I take it?"

"There is only one person whose behaviour makes it likely" I said.

Lady Molly nodded.

"Indeed" she said "Only one whose jealous behaviour may be veiled but who is clearly ready to act with spite. And who seems ready to do anything to draw attention to their own perceived virtues. And I do not fancy that a friendship could possibly remain. I have given Philip his orders of what to do; and you and I will be down in the library to witness the confrontation before tea is served."

oOoOo

"I know that you stole those papers from Helen and put them on my bed" Philip's voice was grim.

"Oh Philip!" Marianne's voice answered him "But at least now you know that she's just some adopted child of a cheap woman no better than she ought to be and not really of the estate she pretends to! You will have to break the engagement and accept that she is as flawed in her background as she is in her body!"

"Marianne I have never slapped a woman but speaking in that fashion of the woman I love has brought me damnably close to it" said Philip in a tightly controlled voice. "I already KNEW that she was the illegitimate child of her father – and that he and her adoptive mama had to go through adoption to be counted her parents. I knew before you stole the papers. And even if she HAD been taken from some random woman in a slum, believe me I would STILL love her. She is Helen; and to me that is all that matters."

Marianne burst into noisy tears.

"But she can't play tennis with you or golf!" she sobbed.

"No; she cannot. But if you think I'd want to go through life playing my favourite games with a silly creature like you who will show off and play like a girl you can think again. I wish you might learn from Lady Molly's game; far more efficient that your foolish running about as if you had fleas in your whites."

There spoke a young man to a girl who has baited his fishing line for him since they were in single figures.

There was the sound of a slap.

This was followed by a muffled slap and an outraged cry from Marianne.

"You always had the devil's own temper and made a flaming nuisance of yourself with it screeching at inconvenient times" said Philip with some satisfaction.

We emerged from our place of concealment behind a book shelf. Marianne was looking outraged and had a hand to her rear.

"A childish quarrel" said Lady Molly "And a childish attempt to put down one who has treated you with nothing but kindness and friendship, Marianne. I have had your bags packed and your chauffeur is at the door waiting for you; it will be less embarrassing for you to leave at once. I fear you have lost the friendship of one of the most excellent young couples it has been my fortune to know. Ah, why am I here? To aid Helen to clear the rest of her friends from suspicion more than to point a finger at the guilty. But before you make trouble there is an ugly name attached to threatening such; it is called Blackmail, my girl, and you can go to prison for it. Think hard before you permit your spite and jealousy land you in serious trouble. Farewell!"

I am not quite sure how my lady manoeuvred that wretched girl to the cloakroom, for her coat and out to the waiting motor; but manoeuvre her she did.

It did at least mean that when we sat down to eat we had equal numbers of men and women; and I did not therefore feel quite such a makeweight.

Especially as Lord Percy was kind enough to draw me into conversation and ask for me to relate a few anecdotes about our time in Scotland Yard now the need for secrecy was over.

Helen of course was upset; she had known Marianne so long that the barbed comments drawing attention to her disabilities had passed her by. But I could see that on reflection she was not surprised; and she was pleased to be able to speak with greater warmth to her other friends!


	4. Chapter 4

**4 Christmas Treason**** Part 1**

"I apologise, Captain, Lady Molly, Miss Granard, for breaking in on your Christmas festivities" said Lord Percy Devinne, bowing deeply, his soft pale gold hair shining in the candles we had lit "But I have secured permission from Scotland Yard to importune the services of a former officer to aid me with a most ticklish and confidential problem."

My lady's eyes sparkled with interest.

"I am sure that we are all at your disposal to undertake such a matter" she said.

"Yes, by jove; if you've been sent it's a matter of national importance" said Captain Hubert, as we all called Captain Hubert de Mazareen.

"Miss Granard? Have I your forgiveness?" asked Lord Percy; and his egg shell blue, hooded eyes dwelled on me a moment. I felt a flush rising.

"Oh it goes without saying that I am always willing to do my bit!" I said, feeling unaccountably flustered that he should ask me so particularly. He gave me a quick grin; it dispelled any illusion that he was as vacuous as he commonly liked people to think he was and filled his face with the light of ready intellect.

"Good girl" he said approvingly.

Now in our last adventure I had learned that Lord Percy's manner could be flippant and so was ready to receive such as a compliment rather than being patronising as it might sound; for he had expressed something of an admiration for me; and nothing he had said on the one or two occasions we had met since had dispelled that impression. I found myself flushing again.

"Lord Percy, perhaps you will outline the problem" said Lady Molly.

Our eyes parted almost guiltily and Lord Percy accepted a glass of mulled wine and sat himself down as my lady indicated to open his budget of news for our consideration.

oOoOo

"You know, I am sure, my friend Charles Dewhurst" said Percy "He was one of the crowd along with Phil and Jeff; I have, as it were, two circles of friends, Charles being of the circle whose families have been friends for perhaps centuries. As you know, his father, Marquis Atiltone is heir to the Duchy of Exeter; and is a respected man in government. He may not be the cleverest, but he is known as a man of impeccable honour; and thus was permitted to take to Atiltone Castle the outline of – well, let us just say that it is a treaty that certain European powers would like to get a glimpse of."

"And it has gone missing?" said my lady.

"Among other things" said Percy. "Now it so happens that my friend Charles comes into the picture here; he had met a charming young lady and was on the verge of asking her hand in marriage. Her name was Ursule, known as Uschi, Von Bhaerburg. She and her maid were staying at the castle for Christmas. And she has been murdered."

I gasped at the baldness of this statement.

"And with the known rivalry between the Kaiser and his cousin, our King, you fear that she was a spy and half suspect your friend Charles of killing her?" asked Lady Molly.

Percy inclined his head.

"You place it in at least some respects in a nutshell" he said "I believe Charles when he says he did not kill her; but he is going to hang under suspicion and even may have to stand trial if I cannot find who has done this – and more important for the sake of the country, the papers are still missing. I think that Fraulein Von Bhaerburg took the papers; but whether she was killed for them or for some other obscure reason I cannot fathom; and as I understand from Charles' rather garbled testimony she may have hidden them."

"Perhaps you will explain" said Lady Molly.

"Charles told me that he had a conversation with his Uschi late last night; she told him that she had done something she regretted and would make all right but that she was afraid of a particular person; and then told him that if he memorised what she told him all would be well. It will be better if he tells you himself."

"Oh quite so" said Lady Molly. "Who else makes up the house party?"

Percy sighed.

"I don't think I have to worry about the discretion of any of you" he said "And I feel I really need to give you some details about the treaty; and why it might be of interest to some of the other people who are staying at the castle. It is a treaty with the Japanese; you know of course in the Russo-Japanese war Britain gave tacit aid to Japan – especially after the ignorant Russians tried to sink the Hull fishing fleet, thinking that they had reached Japan after so short a voyage – and denied coaling stations to the Russian fleet in any British port on their way round Africa and across the Indian Ocean because we also denied them the use of the Suez Canal. The details of the treaty are secret – even I don't know more than the vaguest gist and I don't want to – but you can see that they would be of some moment to Russia. They are of even more moment to Germany; because of Turpitz' tactics with the German home fleet. Germany has no far-flung empire; so she can afford to have her ships more heavily armed and armoured because less room is needed in equivalent sized ships for extra coal and decent accommodation. Thus any German fleet could overwhelm a British fleet of the same size – and though the British Navy is much larger it is also further spread. Germany must be concerned whether the Japanese fleet would by treaty protect British interests in the Far East, freeing up many British ships in case of war with Germany, that many feel to be inevitable."

"Truly? That is terrible!" I said "All because the Kaiser is jealous of our king?"

"Alas, the Kaiser's jealousy is quite pathological" said Percy "What else can you expect from a man whose underlings have to call him 'All Highest'?"

"Why that is practically blasphemous!" I declared indignantly.

"Indeed" said Percy. "So the Germans have a great interest in any such treaty Britain may make; even those factions who would wish to avoid war, and would consider upsetting such a treaty a good way to make Britain less ready to go to war. Bear in mind too that the Americans dislike the Japanese and would rather have Britain making treaties with them; and also that there are Fenians who would support Germany just to oppose Britain. Add to the mixture and stir the concept that any arms dealer is about to make money if they have some idea who to sell arms to."

"And presumably all these peoples are represented?" asked my lady.

"Yes" said Percy "Or rather, maybe. Let me start the guest list with Charles' sister Margaret and her husband Sir Evan Wallescourt; I can't see that they could have anything to do with it. Lady Margaret is a pleasant woman to whom I suspect intrigue of the highest level means figuring out where to hide her husband's birthday present. Sir Evan is a baronet whose ancestor made his money in buckles; he's currently in buttons and other fastening though it's becoming old money. No arms in the offing. However a friend of his, Richard Effingham, who is also staying, is an arms dealer. And it's quite possible that he played on the acquaintance with Sir Evan to get the invitation."

"And besides you don't like him" I said bluntly.

"I think he's a vulgar little tick" said Percy "And whilst a chap can be vulgar and still a good fellow, Effingham is the sort of elbow in the ribs sly innuendo monger whose subtleties are sufficiently laboured for a halfwit to pick up on them. No I don't like him; and Charles doesn't like the way the fellow looks at his other sister, Phoebe."

"So it may be that he has an ulterior motive but it's merely of the matrimonial kind – to increase his social pretensions?" asked Lady Molly.

"Yes" admitted Percy "Fellow's thirty years older than her if he's a day though; and Effingham has irritated Lord Atiltone enough that he threatened to stuff him down one of his own artillery pieces and fire it for a warm story told in front of the ladies. Which is to say there's no love lost; but one can't throw a guest out at Christmas, and besides, Sir Evan did apologise on his friend's behalf."

"What does the girl Phoebe make of the arms dealer?" asked the Captain.

"Oh she despises him" said Percy "HER heart is taken; by one Phelim O'Toole, who has connections to Lord Byron – mind you, I think that covers all the Irish aristocracy. But he has radical leanings; which makes me wonder if he's not a Fenian. Atiltone doesn't want Phoebe marrying him at all, but with Effingham as an alternative, he's starting to change his mind."

Lady Molly chuckled.

"Close, are they, these sisters, Lady Margaret and Lady Phoebe?" she asked.

"Why, yes they are, Lady Molly" said Percy "Why do you ask?"

"Why because if Lady Margaret knew the stamp of her husband's acquaintance and did the arranging to have him invited it might be nothing more nor less than a plot to get their father to look more favourably upon young O'Toole" she said.

Percy stared.

"Now you mention it…." he said "The wisdom of the serpent, my lady; I wager you're correct! But I still have to look upon O'Toole as a suspect."

"Oh quite so" said Lady Molly. "Now, you mentioned in addition Russia and America?"

"Yes, the final two; diplomats both which might or might not conceal spying on the side. In theory they are there to discuss a point of law that arose over the purchase of Alaska by America in 1867 from Russia; a dispute arose over the ownership of the tiny island of Attu that came up because of the Russo-Japanese war and the desire of the Russians to use it as a base. Lord Atiltone has been acting as referee. As I understand it the Russians haven't a leg to stand on and Arturin Rasbrazjutov is an irritable man; as cross as a bear indeed. And Hannibal Knox Shilepper is as smug as a cat in a cream jug. Atiltone can't stand him either; HATED having to decide for him. But being the fair man he is he went with the point of law not with personal preference, though he told me that in his opinion someone in Washington was hoping to get rid of the administration of the Aleut islands by sending someone as offensive as Shilepper. He's a man to whom you give an inch and he takes an ell; as well as being aggressively narrow minded and parochial. Objected to the old man having evergreens; said they were pagan."

"Well insulting a man in his own halls seems a bit much" said the captain "He'd have been well served to have been thrown out and his claim settled the other way by default."

"Charles told him that if he didn't keep his nasty mouth shut on matters that were none of his business he'd do just that" said Percy cheerfully. "There are some very decent Americans out there but if you ask me, Shilepper should have been drowned at birth. It's a LOVELY gathering; and if anyone had murdered Shilepper or any one of several people had murdered Atiltone I'd not have been surprised. But Charles is very cut up about his Uschi; you will come?"

"Of course we will" said Lady Molly. Naturally she spoke for all of us!

oOoOo

Atiltone Castle is too well known to the readers of such periodicals as The Sketch or The Strand; and its many exquisite features have been taken advantage of by photographers who have published their work in the likes of The Burlington Magazine and so on for me to need to describe it. The late Tudor gatehouse with its plethora of excrescent chimney-like decorative features hardly needs a mention, nor the winding Rhododendron drive, a gloomy thing at this wintry time of year and not conducive to a merry Christmas spirit! Of course we were coming for business not pleasure; and would not have time to overlook the winter gardens, nor even the snow-covered rose arbour and maze. The castle itself was a typical medieval keep transformed by successive owners of more peaceful days; we all know how the Tudor wing grows out to the east and the Georgian wing to the south, that is now the front of the house such that the approach to the castle has changed over time according to the pleasure of the marquis in residence, leading to the swinging turns of the drive, The incumbent would generally have been a vigorous younger man whose father still reigned as duke; the current marquis still had a father in excellent health though he had retired from all public office, and though Percy and his friend Charles might affect to call him 'the old man' he was only in his mid forties and a vigorous man whose own efforts to extend the family home might be found on the motoring pages of The Sketch and doubtless other dedicated motoring magazines that held little interest for my lady and myself. The old stable blocks were sacrosanct of course to any countryman; but new purpose-built garages held gleaming monsters of automobiles. No doubt when there was less business in the offing, Philip Strickland would be pleased if Charles would invite him; and then Helen Ambrose might perhaps make a healthier friend in Lady Phoebe – if she proved a decent girl – than in her rather dubious friends that we had met at Blenthorpe Hall.

I confess that knowing the place only by photographs, I was much impressed by the size. Even though the keep had been lowered to re-use the stone and to make it more of a home and less of a castle it was still quite large enough to intimidate; apparently this part housed the kitchen and laundry and was mostly given over to a family museum and storage on the upper floors; but the great hall was still used to eat in, and to put visitors firmly in their places – or so it seemed.

You will have seen pictures of the later Jacobean staircase in the great hall and the panelling introduced to try to reduce the draughts and increase the warmth there – so far as I could gather utterly fruitlessly – and you cannot but be aware of the suits of armour and manorial bearings displayed on the walls along with a variety of wickedly efficient looking weapons and paintings of long dead Dewhursts apparelled for war, between the odd hunting trophy; but nothing can prepare the visitor for the impression of antiquity and grandeur. Even the decorations, the evergreens, the tinsel, the paperchains and the magnificent tree near the great fireplace covered in baubles and topped with a voluptuous porcelain fairy in stiff petticoats could not diminish the sense of readiness for battle despite the efforts to make it look homely and festive.

oOoOo

Lord Atiltone was obviously expecting us, as was his son; they came forward to greet us cordially.

This did not suit Mr Shilepper.

"Tarnation take it, Markiss!" he almost shouted "We have a dead girl upstairs and you invite more guests? And where is your po-lice? It's irregular, G-ddammit!"

"Mr Shilepper" said Lord Atiltone who sounded as though he had had about enough of the man "Meet the experts sent by Scotland Yard; you will be required to answer questions about all you may know concerning the unfortunate young woman upstairs."

"Ah will not! Diplomatic immunity….."

"Diplomatic immunity does not prevent the immediate expulsion of an undesirable alien" said Lady Molly coldly "And failing to answer questions is rather suggestive of at least complicity; and I will certainly append a note to the American authorities that they keep an eye on you and your proclivities with young girls; after all the motive for this death is not yet known."

"Upon my word, miss, are you calling me a degenerate?" demanded Shilepper.

"It's lady; not miss" said Lady Molly serenely "and I thought that my implications were quite plain."

Going home not as a potential spy but labelled as a potential degenerate would certainly be more likely to follow the man around; I thought it a master stroke.

"Me, I will co-operate with the so-beautiful lady policeman" growled the bearded man who almost had to be the Russian; he had a strangely musical yet guttural accent. "I have nothing to hide."

Lady Molly bestowed one of her beautiful smiles upon him; she knows so well how to charm men's hearts right out of their chests!

oOoOo

"I understand that Fraulein Von Bhaerburg's body is upstairs, My Lord" said Lady Molly "Is it where she died?"

"Good Lord, no!" said the Marquis "Couldn't leave it where it was; dashed inconvenient, and nasty too!"

My lady sighed.

"You should never move a body if you have any reason to suspect that the death was intentional!" she said in gentle admonition "Or were you persuaded that life was not extinct?"

"Well she was plainly dead with a knife in her back and all that blood; so where was the harm in moving her?" said the Marquis, baffled "It couldn't hurt her any more!"

Lady Molly sighed.

"Seeing the body _in situ_ often makes a police investigation easier" she said. "Where then was she found?"

"On the stairs" said Lord Atiltone. "But dammit – er, I mean, good grief, My Lady, how could we leave her there? It's the main staircase! And everyone was coming down to breakfast; most unsavoury, what?"

"Ah" said Lady Molly. "I perceive that you fancied that it would be impolite to your house guests."

"Quite so!" said Lord Atiltone.

One might readily take his point; the big and impressive Jacobean staircase led from the centre of the great hall not far from the dining table, joining the wall to the side of the great fireplace before turning to effect a gallery all around the room from which doors to the east and the south led off, one might assume, to the other, more recent wings. With the crackling fire, the additional grotesques of Jacobean carving on a huge overmantle of the same period joining up with the carven staircase, and the mighty Christmas tree soaring to the height of the uppermost part of the staircase the picture was quite homelike and indeed seasonal just in that carven corner. But having a body on the stairs would be offputting; though correct procedure would perhaps to have had the guests served breakfast in their own rooms for once until a police presence had seen the body.

"How was the body lying?" asked Lady Molly.

"Well…. On the stairs" said Lord Atiltone.

My Lady gave him a sharp look, wondering if any man could truly be so obtuse and yet manage to walk and breathe at the same time. Evidently what she saw convinced her that he was indeed so obtuse for she sighed.

"I'll show you" said a young woman.

"Phoebe!" the Marquis was shocked.

"Sorra, and it's a distasteful thing, me dharlin' ghurl, so it is t'be sure!" said a darkly handsome young man "Wirra that I should be lettin' ye…."

"Phelim, I shall do all I may to lift the shadow from this house" said Phoebe crisply "And were I married to you, I'd still not accept any such nonsense about LETTING me; it's my choice."

"Well said" applauded Lady Molly forestalling any further protest "Helping the police and their representatives in any way you might is always the wisest and best course."

I thought that Helen Ambrose might like this girl; Lady Phoebe had the same blonde Saxon looks of her sire with the same firm, even stubborn, chin; but her eyes carried a spark of intellect that suggested that her firmness of purpose was driven by reflection not by blind belief. Her finely chiselled nose saved her face from being plain, and though she was not pretty exactly she had the kind of looks that do not fade; for good bone structure can only improve with keeping.

Lady Phoebe ran lightly up the stairs and slumped against the banisters, one arm thrown out through the carved uprights, almost touching the tree.

"I can see that it would be an offputting sight for anyone partaking of breakfast" murmured the Captain. "Is that a stain?"

"The staircase has been well scrubbed by the servants of course" said the Marquis bristling.

"A shame" said the captain tartly "One might almost suggest that you have done everything in your power to prevent the killer of the unfortunate girl to be brought to book."

"Sir!" cried the Marquis.

"Hubert, I do not think it was deliberate" said Lady Molly quietly "But my husband is quite correct, My Lord; in some circumstances the cleaning up might be seen to have been a deliberate attempt to obscure facts. Perhaps you will make amends by indicating where the knife you mentioned was found as Lady Phoebe is good enough to act the part of the corpse."

The Marquis goggled.

"My lady, if you will permit ME" said the liveried butler who had admitted us "Since his lordship instructed me to remove the knife and carry the lady to her room….."

Lady Molly winced.

"You HANDLED the knife?" she cried.

"Wearing my gloves only, my lady" said the butler "Since I have read police reports in the newspapers with great interest and I understand the value of fingerprints; I have locked the offending article in my pantry for due examination."

"Well done" said Lady Molly faintly. It was well intentioned; and that pulling a knife out of the wound with cotton gloves would almost certainly have smeared and obliterated any fingerprints that were there was something the man could not know. "My associate Miss Granard is familiar with the methods of taking fingerprints; she will examine it in due course."

I was not looking forward to what would probably be a fruitless search.

"Never mind" murmured Percy in my ear "Chances are any killer may have worn gloves anyhow."

The butler – his name was Gregson – majestically mounted the staircase and indicated without touching Lady Phoebe where the knife had protruded.

"It was a sixteenth century stiletto similar to the one you may see on the gallery wall up there" Gregson pointed up to a further display of weaponry on the panelled walls of the gallery. "Indeed it is one that used to hang there."

"I see" said Lady Molly.

"No chance of an intruder in other words" I said it out loud to make it clear "As the killer had to come down two stairs to strike the Fraulein. But not, I fancy, premeditated?"

"A crime of opportunity; almost certainly" said Lady Molly. "Lady Phoebe, would you rise and assume the position again from the aspect of walking up, and then walking down stairs?"

"Certainly" said Lady Phoebe cheerily "And don't sigh at me papa, Phelim; you know I didn't care much for Uschi."

"Sure, me dharlin' ye should not be sayin' av sich things and the poleece in the house!" said Phelim O'Toole.

"Nonsense!" said Phoebe "Not liking her much and wanting to murder the poor wretch are worlds apart; Lady Molly is sensible to that."

"Indeed" said Lady Molly "Ah, I see that you find it hard to fall into the position from either going up or down; what about looking over the banisters?"

This was achieved more readily; and Lady Molly gave her smiling thanks to Lady Phoebe who looked upon her with some awe and envy that she should be something so independent as a Lady Detective! I was struck however by the implications of how the dead girl must have stood as she was struck down.

"Why, she must have stopped and saw something or someone that made a confederate strike her down!" I cried.

"That is something to consider" said Lady Molly. "And I will wish to speak to each person in turn who is here. You have a study, perhaps, My Lord in which I may see everyone once I have seen the body?"

"Oh, er, yes, quite so" said His Lordship; giving Lady Molly her head was usually the easiest way; as he was discovering!

oOoOo

The body was of an attractive girl in very Germanic mould; and when we came into the room a maid was busy pulling her skirts straight as though we had caught her in the act of maybe stealing the lace of the lady's petticoats; as some light fingered hussies might do.

"What do you think you are doing here?" asked Lady Molly coldly.

"Ich spreche Englisch nicht" said the girl sulkily, another Germanic type but definitely of more peasant stock, heavier of build.

My Lady regarded her; and switched smoothly to the German she spoke so well. The girl answered sulkily; then at a word from Lady Molly curtsied resentfully and left the room.

"She says she was laying out her lady more conformably – what a clumsy way to say it in English! with more propriety she means – than had been done" said Lady Molly "I cannot prove that she is lying but I do not like it. Perhaps she is a thief; perhaps others have paid her to act; perhaps it is something else entirely. I am going to disturb the Fraulein's petticoats myself and see if there is any clue."

My lady searched; and sighed.

"I cannot be certain" she said. "No lace is gone; her most intimate garments have not, I think, been touched; and really I think that we cannot tell anything more even if we do examine the wound since the knife that caused it has been preserved. A search of her room for any letters is of course the paramount purpose; and of course Lord Percy was entirely unable to enter a young lady's room for such a search even when she is dead; the impropriety would be intolerable, especially to a girl of noble family in Germany."

We searched; and found nothing to immediate sight but a few scribblings on a piece of paper imperfectly burned in the grate; seemingly the young woman had been working with a dictionary of German to English for such lay on her dressing table; the word 'petticoat' was visible and apart from half burned partial words – air, I thought, and sho, perhaps shoe – there was nothing to be made of it.

"Well that explains what the maid was up to" said Lady Molly "Searching her petticoats; and look the drawer is disturbed, where her underlinen is kept."

Naturally we rifled through that too; for it is a sad fact that in the case of murder, nothing is sacred, and too this was a matter of national security.

We found nothing resembling stolen papers; or indeed any papers save the proper safe conducts and pass ports for the lady and her maid; and a novel in the horridly heavy and stylised script the Germans insist on using. At least, Lady Molly glanced through it and said that it was a novel; to my mind, reading such script would be nothing short of torture, and a novel is supposed to be pleasurable to read. But the Germans are well known to make bravery in all things a virtue; maybe they also extended that to the reading of light entertainment.

oOoOo

"Lord Charles" Lady Molly had sat herself behind the desk "I would like to know what you know about Fraulein Von Bhaerburg and what message it was that you had to memorise."

He made a helpless gesture.

"What do I know? Not as much as I had thought, apparently" he said, digging his hands deep into his pockets and hunching his shoulders "I – well, I though she was the girl for me. Yes, definitely" he added "And last night, she spoke to me, stopping me as we were on our way up to bed. She said – she said that she was not all as I thought but that she loved me" he looked at Lady Molly with haunted eyes "Do you think she was lying?"

"I think" said my dear kind lady "That if she was ready to warn you that she was not as you thought that she loved you very well. But I think if you have any mistaken idea of shielding her activities you would let HER down – since she plainly wished to be honest with YOU."

"Do you know, I did wonder if I would be a cad to mention it?" said Lord Charles candidly. My lady gave him an encouraging smile; of course she had known; it was why she had spoken as she did. He went on "She told me that she had done things that she regretted, that would look bad for my family; and that she had to put something back, but until she got an opportunity she would hide it where nobody would find it…Lady Molly, was that this missing memorandum that has been so upsetting papa?"

"I rather fancy it might be" said Lady Molly with a straight face. Nobody could accuse any of the Dewhurst men of towering intellect.

"Well, in that case, I'd like to find it for the pater" said Lord Charles "only what she said makes no sense at all!"

Lady Molly smiled encouragingly after the manner of a kindly governess encouraging a tot to repeat their alphabet.

"Tell me what she said" she urged "And let us see if WE cannot solve it."

"Right-o" said Lord Charles "She made me repeat it until I had it by heart; let me see; 'I wish, dear Charles you will consider the fun-fair we went to; with less fun but with a squeal of joy; then consider a shoe-fastening and little goats starting by the sea' and that was it. Sounds a load of bally nonsense!" his face puckered and he worked on pulling it back to impassivity "I can hear her dear voice saying it" he said in a low voice "It was the last time I ever heard her."

"Then be assured her last words were a surety of loyalty to YOU above anything else" said Lady Molly. "And we may hope to uncover some meaning in her riddling words that we do not have to search every last inch of this house."

Lord Charles shuddered.

"It could take YEARS" he said. "Even playing hide-and-seek here means you're not guaranteed to get found and miss supper because of falling asleep in a priest's hole or hidden closet."

I confess my own heart was dismayed at such a prospect!

My heart also performed strange callisthenics when Lord Percy asked if he might sit in with the interviews of the foreign visitors and Mr Effingham; and Lady Molly accommodated him in the corner out of sight behind a screen.


	5. Chapter 5

**Christmas Treason Part 2**

For form's sake we spoke to Sir Evan Wallescourt and Lady Margaret first; but they had not even spoken much to the fraulein. Lady Margaret was in an interesting condition and only determination had brought her here for Christmas as she was suffering much from swollen ankles and Sir Evan danced attendance upon her with a touching solicitude that belongs only to the young married man as I remarked to Lady Molly when they had withdrawn. She laughed her tinkling laugh.

"Oh men who have been married longer CAN manage it you know, Mary; if they try hard enough; and if they feel that their attentions are appreciated" she said, glancing at the screen.

I blushed. How could I have forgotten even for an instant that Percy was concealed there!

Fortunately my confusion was interrupted by Lady Phoebe's arrival on quick decisive feet.

"Phelim thinks that I should not be answering questions without a father or betrothed to protect me; which is nonsense of course" she said "I asked Margaret to let me know when you were ready for me while papa and Phelim were arguing their way to agreeing with each other."

"And was the invitation of Mr Effingham to show Mr O'Toole in a better light?" asked Lady Molly. Phoebe grinned.

"As it happens, yes; I suggested the concept and Margaret provided the maggot in the apple. Do you think Effingham's a sex maniac and he killed Uschi because he thought that foreign women ought to be less of ladies than English ones and she protested?"

"It was not something that crossed my mind" said Lady Molly "But why then would he stab her in the back?"

"Oh I thought about that" said Phoebe "If he tried to embrace her on the gallery, she might be the one to have snatched a knife – he's too short to reach it readily, but Uschi and her maid are such veritable valkyries! – and then he wrested it from her and stabbed her with his arms about her, they stumbled down the stairs and he lowered her down."

"An interesting hypothesis" said my lady "And logically reasoned given the facts and your construction on the characters of those involved. I shall not discard that theory out of hand; though I believe there were other factors involved. But of course" and she smiled her singular and lovely smile "Even where there are other factors, the basest of human urges might even so emerge and the potential motives merely serve to muddy the waters."

"Oh she was a spy then?" said Phoebe, interested. "I did wonder."

"Yes" said Molly. "What made you wonder?"

"Oh the questions she was asking papa about his work in the government; and I don't know much German but I heard her quarrel with her maid; that Liesel Natter is a sly piece and always sneaking around. I heard her say to Uschi that Herzog Von Wieseltanz would not be pleased about something that I did not catch; and I vaguely recall Percy – Lord Percy Devinne, you know – having said that Hans Von Wieseltanz was one of Turpitz's spymasters."

I should not have curled my fingers into claws that she should use Lord Percy's name so freely; after all she had known him, no doubt, from early childhood.

"Interesting" said Lady Molly.

"Is it? oh good" said Lady Phoebe "I shouldn't mind being a lady detective; and if I've been moderately clever, perhaps you'll give me a recommendation. I can't really ask Percy; he's not really a proper detective, he just does things that mean he works with Scotland Yard sometimes and besides he's fearfully ancient and would probably think it's not a proper thing like Charles says it isn't."

I had not actually realised quite what a mere babe she was; and shifted my chair hurriedly to hide the sound of Percy's indignant and not entirely swallowed snort in the corner.

We were interrupted by Mr O'Toole full of Gaelic indignation, and Lord Atiltone.

"Sure and what are they doin' t'ye, me threasure, me dharlin'?" cried O'Toole.

"Phelim you are an idiot" said Phoebe with scorn "What COULD they do to me? I've been advancing some of my theories and Lady Molly thinks them logical. Go away; I don't NEED protecting; this is the twentieth century and I am not some fainting heroine from the rubbish your great uncle Byron wrote."

"I believe I don't need to ask you anything else Lady Phoebe" said my dear lady "However, as Mr O'Toole is here, he may as well be the next on my list; the order after all is of little moment. Lord Atiltone, do you feel a need to protect the young man's honour from my dangerous presence?"

Her gay tone had the peer goggling for a moment, then as he finally recognised a joke, he laughed.

"Ho ho! Protect his virtue from two dangerous women eh? I think O'Toole is old enough to protect himself! But I think my daughter should have had someone to warn her not to say anything in her foolish way; she is young and does not understand that jests may be taken seriously and land her in trouble!"

"Oh I believe I know a jest from serious comment" said Lady Molly "And I have no suspicions whatsoever about Phoebe; she is no taller than five feet four or so; it is impossible to suspect her, even if she were not so patently and openly innocent of anything more than a wish that she were in charge of the investigation. However" she added in a steely tone "You would be well, Lord Atiltone, to make sure she is never alone with anyone but yourself, your son, Lord Percy, or your other daughter. Indeed, as this might affect your older daughter adversely I should like you to ask her to return to her home taking Phoebe with her. I will know where to find her if any other question arises to put to her."

"What – you mean – do you think Phoebe knows what happened? Saw something?" he went white.

"No My Lord; but I do know that she is of curious disposition and an open, talkative girl who might say something in front of someone which has a significance she does not realise. If I KNEW, I could then protect her better in your home. But I would prefer that she was out of the way."

He nodded.

"Percy said to obey you implicitly…. If my little girl is in danger…. I shall do as you suggest."

"And I shall go with her, for sure I will" said O'Toole.

"No you will not" said Lady Molly "Because you might be one of the people I need to protect her from."

"ye besom! Wha's that has the givin' av yez the roights ter sthart accusin' av folks?" the angry Irishman became almost incomprehensible.

"The right that I've been called in not Scotland Yard in full; that might shut you up pending an investigation into you" said Lady Molly. "For all I know, you might be using Lady Phoebe to get your hands on knowledge her father is privy to in the same way as Fraulein Von Bhaerburg was initially using her brother. Now sit down; I have no time for you to act nursery tantrums. If you can't behave civilly I WILL have you arrested and investigated for Fenian activity."

He paled and sat.

oOoOo

"Oi dabbled with Fenian politics when Oi was at school" said O'Toole sullenly, his brogue thickening under stress. "Sure, and wasn't it just fashionable t'do so; and didn't Oi grow out of it, so Oi did; and sorra a thing t'do wit' the nonsense since Oi was about seventeen!"

"How did you meet Lady Phoebe?" asked Lady Molly conversationally.

"Sure, and didn't she ask for an introduction to me at a dance?" said O'Toole. "Ef yer thinkin' Oi sought her out, ye're sadly mistook me lady; for it's not knowin' her from Adam as Oi was until Oi did."

We unravelled that and found that it made sense once one allowed for the idiom in which it was couched.

"How tall are you, Mr O'Toole?" asked Lady Molly.

"An inch or two shorter than the dead Fraulein and throuble I'd be havin' t' shove a Knoife in at the angle ut was in, even ef I wuz standin' on the stair above" said O'Toole.

"And what angle WAS it in?" asked Lady Molly.

O'Toole went slightly green.

"It wuz…. Goin' down inther the body" he said "I get up early; come upon the housemaid havin' hystherics over ut, silly eejit; then Gregson arroived. Ye couldn't do it from the stair above, I'm thinkin'; not ef she wuz turned loike yez had Phoebe turn. But whoever did ut was as tall as the Fraulein or taller."

"Well that's interesting" said Lady Molly "I have no other questions for now; you may go. I suggest you take advantage of the Marquis' brandy."

"And not a drap o' the rale stuff in the house; only that substitute…..rubbish fram Scotland" mourned Mr O'Toole who evidently scorned the mature thirty-year-old single malt from Balvenie that we later found was Lord Atiltone's favourite tipple.

When he had gone I said,

"He might be lying about the angle to throw suspicion off himself"

"He might" said Lady Molly "But the other stiletto is lower; and I fancy would have been more convenient for a short man to take. And I'd say he was nearer three or even four inches shorter than Uschi Von Bhaerburg; but even faced with suspicion he cannot but boast. That's the Irish for you" she added with affectionate tolerance.

oOoOo

We saw Mr Richard Effingham next. He leered at both of us; at least that is the only way I can describe the smile he gave, especially in the direction of Lady Molly whose silk waist fitted her shapely figure closely, its pin-tucks running into the open shawl collar of the long, slimline velvet jacket of her outfit that matched in shade exactly with the twill skirt, a rich claret that so few women can wear without looking either pale or hectically flushed; needless to say, Lady Molly looked quite perfect in it.

"Well at least they now send investigators that are easy on the eye!" he said, rubbing his hands together.

"You are a brave man, Mr Effingham" said Lady Molly demurely.

"Eh? What's that strange idea in your pretty little head?"

"Oh hardly a strange idea" said my lady "Only that as my husband is a military man he will insist on calling out any man he feels excessively complimentary towards me; and he's such a good shot I can't but think you a brave man for being prepared to take him on."

Mr Effingham paled to a dirty grey colour; although many small men have physical courage well beyond their inches, he was not one of them.

"I'm a rich man" he said "I'm sure he could be persuaded…."

"He'd lay you out for such a suggestion" I interposed "Besides, you may have a little money, Mr Effingham; what is that to landowners who have had land for generations? You are insolent to my lady who is from one of the foremost families in England. She has contacts who could make sure you were ruined if she chose."

"Mary" it was an admonition from my lady; but the way he looked at my lady made my blood boil; I could not but put him in his place!

"My Lady, I apologise if I have caused YOU offence by drawing attention to your estate" I said formally.

"This gets us no further forward" said Lady Molly. "There are certain reasons, Mr Effingham, that you would appear not to be responsible for the stabbing of Ursule Von Bhaerburg; however if you had an interest in any papers she also had an interest in, and have any knowledge to throw light upon this unfortunate business, then I suggest that it would be within your interests to do so. Whilst no foreign national can find themselves in trouble for espionage since there is no law against it, may I say that YOU could be charged with treason if you were found to be in possession of, or attempting to gain possession of, certain papers."

He went if anything greyer.

"I know nothing of any papers!" he almost squealed in terror.

"No? you did not talk your business acquaintance into giving you an invitation to his father-in-law's house purely to get a glimpse of these papers for your own enrichment?" Lady Molly's voice held just the right note of official disbelief.

He whinnied in horror.

"I didn't even know that there were papers here that might be of interest to me!" he squealed. "All I know is that I made a pass at that little German bitch and she slapped me; and as for that maid of hers, she fetched me such a smack I went to bed with a dose of chloral to help sleep with so sore a face. See, I have the bruise yet!" he added indignantly. "And that Frowline wouldn't discipline her; said it served me right! A SERVANT allowed to hit me? Intolerable!"

The girl Liesel had certainly given him a goodly blow; and I could not say I blamed her.

Lady Molly smiled.

"Perhaps someone told the maid that in England we pride ourselves on our freedoms – and the fact that taking liberties with girls is considered a crime" she said with a charmingly innocent look. "After all, only someone who is an utter boor would force himself on a girl; not at all what any gentleman would do, and I daresay she mistook your intentions."

He went from grey to a kind of beetroot colour.

"Well, I know nothing about papers nor the girl being killed" he said loudly.

Lady Molly nodded.

"Very well; if I wish to ask you anything else I shall have you sent for" she said "Please send in Mr Rasbrazjutov next."

He actually managed a jerky bow on leaving; really I cannot say that I have ever disliked anyone more!

oOoOo

"I swear to you that I, Arturin Vasiliev Rasbrazjutov, have had nothing to do with killing the girl" rumbled the big Russian.

"Somehow I fancy you'd be more likely to strangle someone anyway, not use a slender knife" said my lady dryly. "Tell me, apart from the dispute that was settled by Lord Atiltone as a disinterested third party, did you have any interests in the papers he was studying?"

"Ha!" said Rasbrazjutov "He had a treaty with the Japanese; saw it on his desk the first day I was here; tried to hide it but I know their scripts when I see them; written in English and the Japanese language both I should think. I knew then I had no chance of persuading him to decide in Russia's favour!"

"I think you'll find that Lord Atiltone went by the point of law not any personal preference" said Lady Molly.

"Well if it was personal preference I should think that little – I do not know the English word and would not say it in front of ladies anyway – the American – would put him off. You get me wrong; Lord Atiltone is an honest man and also patriotic and if there was to be a treaty with Japan I know I had no chance of bribing him to find a loophole."

We sat aghast that he should admit the fact that he might have attempted bribery.

"I see" said Lady Molly "You did not wish to er, borrow the document for a closer look to verify what it said?"

"Yomayo! Why would I need to look at it? If England makes a treaty with Japan, whose naval officers are all trained at Dartmouth, it will be a naval treaty; and this means that Russia has no chance to fight Japan again. All because that fool Rozhestvenski let his idiot captains get out of hand – and did not even leave lifeboats for the fishermen of the Hull fishing fleet that the fools sank! What with that and the clowns - yes CLOWNS – on the Kamchatka who might almost have been supposed to have been traitors were they not all certainly merely moronic, it was a farce. And Russia made a villainous laughing stock; pravda! So it is I, who am the most tolerant and reasonable and discreet of men, who comes to speak about this matter and I am truly shown to be the quietest and gentlest of creatures, for have I taken that little rat of an American and torn him into pieces for his insolence? No I have not; and I will not because it will create another incident. 'Arturin' I say to myself, 'the Americans have sent this gadfly only to see if they can make a war; because they want to steal Russian lands in Siberia to give them more naval bases so THEY can fight the Japanese'; and when I remind myself of this, I do not then fall into the trap of reacting to the little MUDLO – no, that I cannot and will not say in English before gracious ladies – and I am at peace with myself. I should like very much to kill him however" he added smiling beatifically.

Lady Molly dismissed him and I am afraid we both burst out laughing.

"If he is an example of Tolerant, Quiet, Discreet or Reasonable" I giggled "I should hate to meet an unrestrained Russian!"

oOoOo

The American was a wiry fellow just about tall enough to have done the deed and only a great bear of a fellow like Rasbrazjutov would consider him 'little'.

"Let me first say that I do consider this prying to be quite intolerable" said Schilepper "And really, do you HAVE to have all that pagan rubbish even in here?" he indicated the evergreens which decorated the study.

"Why yes, I believe we do" said Lady Molly "I would never be so ill bred as to even consider asking a host to change his arrangements of decoration; besides, it is a tradition stretching back in time immemorial; but of course you would not understand tradition. However as a guest in this house I would certainly not dream of interfering; and I am amazed that you should ask it of me since I have known Americans with manners quite as good as anybody's."

"You sniffy broad!" he snarled "I wager you're no real lady at all!"

Lady Molly smiled sweetly.

"You would lose your wager so I'd not recommend it" she said. "I am the daughter of the late Earl of Flintshire; which gives me the right to the title for my lifetime. Call my veracity into doubt and I will sue you for slander. Now, if the personal remarks are all over, might we move on to relevancies? You may have time to waste but I should like to enjoy the rest of Christmas with my family."

He scowled.

"I didn't kill the Kraut broad" he said.

"And I suppose you didn't have an interest in the papers she may have had in her possession either?" said Lady Molly in a disbelieving tone.

"Papers? What interest would I have in storypapers and whatever rubbish you broads read?" he sneered.

"THAT is pretending too much chauvinism to be believable" I said "You are surely aware that the lady was engaging in espionage for her country?"

He stared then laughed. It sounded like a donkey braying.

"What, the Krauts let GIRLS do spying? Hey I knew they were stupid but really! Women have no ability to think and are easier to manipulate if they are fool enough to think they have – like someone talking the girlies into supposedly investigating this death because you are too stupid to realise your chief wants his Christmas day in peace."

Really if he were only taken to court and introduced to our King, it would be enough to make King Edward determined to be friendly with his nephew no matter what; his offensive way of speaking must have made anyone consider any prejudices we might hold against the German nation to be almost affectionate differences by comparison! And his attitude to women was fairly repulsive!

"_Odi profanum vulgus et arceo_" murmured my lady.

"What does that mean?" demanded Shilepper.

"Apparently it means that I am so stupid that I am able to acquire more Latin than you" said Lady Molly smiling sweetly. "And by the way, the phrase contained a dismissal; I can see that you would not be interested in any treaties or documents since I doubt you are literate enough to understand them. Pray depart."

He went with ill grace.

Percy emerged, chuckling.

"You hate the unenlightened crowd and bid them depart indeed!" he said.

"It was the best one I could recall under the circumstances, Lord Percy" said my lady "I am quite shaking with anger; Mary, I dare say you feel the same?"

"Some of the company here appears to be a trifle NEANDERTHAL" I said.

"Oh bravo, Miss Granard" said Percy. "We are no further forward though."

"On the contrary" said my lady "I should say we were considerably further forward. We know who could NOT have murdered Fraulein Von Bhaerburg; and who was unlikely to have done so. I should have said that only one suspect remains. Mary, I pray you after tea to see if you might find any prints on the knife; and also to take your print kit and see whether the killer felt a need for bracing with a left hand against the banisters whilst stabbing the fraulein. Even a strong person might feel a need to place a hand against the banister; and of course such a print will go across the banister not, as would be the case of someone using it as balance or assist going up or down stairs, in line with it."

"I'll do that first" I said "Before the so-efficient marquis has the whole banister polished. But I dare if I find anything it is more likely to be the print of a maid using the banister to get up after having scrubbed the stair."

"Well then we must take the prints of all the servants to eliminate them from the enquiry" said my lady serenely. "Let us go in to tea."

oOoOo

"You're a dashed pretty girl, Miss Granard" said Richard Effingham laying an unwelcome hand on my arm "Thing is if you ever wanted to leave that starchy creature you work for, I should be VERY happy to have you as my secretary; nice gifts for anything extra-curricular of course, and the possibility that if we suit each other, I might even consider marriage."

I stared open mouthed.

"If you think for one moment" I said coldly "That I would submit for one instant to being pawed by a creature like you even if I wished to leave the company of my dear friend you must be out of your mind."

"Furthermore" said Percy coming over "You will do me the favour of unhanding my affianced wife before I hit you."

His hooded eyes were narrowed and dangerous and I never thought he looked so beautiful.

Effingham looked pointedly at my finger, bare of any ring.

"I did not know" he said, reluctantly removing his hand.

"It seemed inappropriate in light of the tragedy here to announce our engagement" said Percy. "Mary, my dear, did he trouble you much?"

"Not so much that I felt constrained to kick him" I said.

Percy laughed.

"Good girl!" he said "And by the way" he added in a low voice "I do apologise for not asking first; am I correct in thinking that you would not mind me asking the question?"

"I should like it very much, Percy" I said, flushing a little to use his name "But if you only said it to rescue me I quite understand."

"No I damn well didn't" said Percy "I would like very much to kiss you but we're a little constrained by polite company, tea and mince pies."

"Why then" I said, flushing again "We must consider each bite of a mince pie to stand for a kiss."

He gave a low chuckle.

"I can eat a lot of mince pies" he said.

"I, being ladylike, will merely take smaller bites; though each one will be as sweet and any gentleman's sized bites" I said demurely.

I am quite sure that neither of us attended to any other conversation at tea – served on low tables in the library – for we were much too busy synchronising our efforts to bite simultaneously into mince pies and I at least feeling uncommonly warm and pleasant for the exercise.

oOoOo

Percy was kind enough to aid my efforts in the searching for fingerprints, whilst Lady Molly lined up all the guests and servants to take their prints for, as she said, elimination purposes. I believe that certain of the company made something of a fuss which was forestalled by Lord Atiltone declaring that he would go first since he did NOT have a guilty conscience such as would be the only reason to refuse. He may not have been the brightest candle on the tree as you might say, but he was shrewd enough in some respects, and even apologised handsomely for not understanding the importance of preserving the scene. I believe Gregson had explained it to him.

Gregson wanted to see if I turned up any prints on the knife; and was most disappointed when I did not find anything that might be readily used; but as I had an excellent palm print and two fingers from the banisters I was less concerned. Though if they WERE the prints of one of the servants it would be disappointing.

Lady Molly examined my results and had the whole company, servants and all summoned.

"The knife yielded little" she said "But it so happened that there was a singular print on the banister; and this was why we had to take the prints of all the servants – in case it was from a maid who had been scrubbing the stairs and used the banisters to assist her rising. Who scrubbed the stairs?"

"I did ma'am" said a woman of indeterminate age "And Liza helped me" she indicated another maid.

"And nobody else was involved?" asked Lady Molly.

"No ma'am" said the first woman.

Lady Molly nodded.

"The print was that of one of the servants" she said.

"I knowed it wasn't one of us" said Shilepper. Lady Molly gave him a look of dislike.

"The print was that of Liesel Natter" said my lady. "Whose room Lord Percy has been searching in her absence."

At this the German woman launched herself on Lady Molly; and was blocked by the Captain; who as I have frequently mentioned was built on noble lines and was more than equal to even a valkyrie of a woman.

She was pouring forth vituperation in German.

"Speak English" said Lady Molly "You speak it perfectly well or you would not have followed the conversation up to now.. Ah, Percy, have you anything?"

"Only some letters from a man called Hans – I believe it to be Herzog Hans Von Wieseltanz – couched in such terms as might lead a gullible girl to suppose he has some feelings for her, if she was well primed by him" said Percy. "Warning that as she feels her mistress is unreliable she must do everything to prevent her being a traitor."

"Ach, ach ACH! You have no right to search my room!" cried Natter.

"I have every right; I asked Lord Atiltone if I might" said Percy. "And I had the housekeeper with me for propriety; which some may consider me to have in too great an abundance, but you are a lone female far from home – but now it is proven that you were aware of, and participating in espionage."

"There is NOTHING you can do! You Britishers have no law against spying!" cried the woman.

"No; but we DO have a law against murder" said Lady Molly "And it is for murdering Fraulein Von Bhaerburg that you will be hanged. The print is as clear as any that I have seen."

"Weren't my missing papers in her room? Where then are they?" demanded Lord Atiltone.

"HAH! You will never have them – because if I could not find them, they will never be found!" cried Liesel Natter.

"On the contrary" said Lady Molly "I know exactly where they are; and have done all day. But as they were safe enough where they were I preferred to leave them there for the time being."

"Upon my word!" said Lord Atiltone, outraged.

"And no doubt also watched to see if Charles had mentioned his riddle to anyone in case anyone else solved it? clever" said Percy. He had slipped an arm around my shoulders.

"Quite so" said Lady Molly. "Fraulein Von Bhaerburg repented of espionage against the country of one whom she had come to love; and decided to hide the papers and leave their whereabouts concealed in a rebus that she told to Charles."

"Here I say! I thought it was a riddle!" said Charles. "What's a rebus when it's at home?"

"It is a word puzzle that employs pictures to suggest homonyms of the true word or part thereof; and in this case is couched purely in words" said Lady Molly "As the Fraulein had no chance for any other endeavour, and had worked very hard to produce something in English for her beloved; since he knew no German. She had been looking up synonyms and the like in her dictionary to make a good puzzle; a piece of paper that was improperly burned led to mislead her maid here into searching her dead mistress' petticoats – including those she was wearing."

There was a collective sound of repugnance that my lady had played for; even though we must, in the course of our duties, do such repugnant things ourselves.

"Narsty creature" said one of the maids.

"Indeed" said Lady Molly. "But you must recall that she has been deceived by a dangerous and unpleasant man and sought only to please him."

I wondered why she should now defend the girl Liesel; but Percy murmured,

"Clever; isolate her, then show her compassion. I should think we'll learn a great deal about Wieseltanz now."

It was not nice; but then spying can never be so; and I must be aware that this is part of the Great Game that Percy is a part of; and learn to live with it.

"The rebus recalled to Lord Charles a fun-fair; suggested less fun but a squeal of joy" said Lady Molly "Which seemed to suggest fair; plus some kind of cry. The only ejaculation of such a kind that seemed to fit was 'ee!' making 'Fairy'" she looked around and laughed at their puzzlement. "I'll finish if I may; she then asked him to consider little goats started by the sea; almost an acrostic clue more than a rebus. Little; or petty; goats begun with a sea, or the letter 'C' – petticoats to be sure. Yes, that much was also in plain view on the burned paper; but without the first part, fairy, it is useless. Fairy petticoats; the petticoats of the fairy on the Christmas tree to be sure!"

"Ach so THAT is what she was doing leaning over the banisters!" cried Liesel Natter "And I never realised!"

Lady Molly herself ran lightly up the stairs to lean over and remove the fairy, a large doll, fortunately of lightweight papier-mâché construction bar the bisque head. With her little sewing scissors she snipped the lace sewn in layers as a petticoat; and revealed that most of the layers were not in fact lace at all – but paper!

Lord Atiltone gave something close to a sob of relief.

"My dear Lady Molly! Oh this is excellent! Why they are all intact!" he cried, flicking through the several sheets.

I think the next best Christmas present I had that day, next to Percy's irregular proposal, was seeing the look on Shilepper's face when he realised that he could not have solved the rebus my lady made such light work of.

And of course the kiss I had under the mistletoe once the local police had taken Liesel Natter and the body of her mistress away.


End file.
